House Calls
by Spoiled Sweet
Summary: Always the Team Mom, Sakura opens up her home as a clinic for the hospital-phobic ninja of Konoha. At the same time, her relationship with Kakashi begins to evolve in a way she never expected. M for swearing and later content.
1. In Which There is a Snarky Medic

All right, so first of all the obligatory Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and by writing this fic I do not claim to own it. I don't own the characters, the setting, the blah blah blah, done.

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**House Calls**

**Chapter 1**

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They were polite, which was about the only point in their favor.

If she was asleep when they dropped by, they were careful not to wake her unless she was needed. A specifically patterned five knocks on her door didn't startle her so much anymore as it did throw her immediately out of bed and into medic mode. When they ate anything, they were careful to clean up after themselves, usually with the only telltale sign being that the dirty dishes that were in the sink were suddenly spotless and in the cupboard. It made her wonder which one was the clean-freak.

It certainly wasn't any of her boys. She had been to their apartments before and knew better. Kakashi managed to keep his living room respectably clean, but a peek into the kitchen or the bedroom indicated that that was just for show. Naruto couldn't even manage that much and Sai, of all the people she expected to be tidy, was just as big of a pig. He dismissed his habits with a mechanical smile and a casual mention of "the artistic temperament".

But, despite the situation being what it was, Sakura felt good whenever she got up to find that the dishes had all been washed and that her granola bars were gone again. When she had to fold up her throw blanket on the couch and straighten the mussed cushions or when she'd peek into the guest room and see that her medical supplies had been ransacked, she found herself smiling. She was being useful.

"Looks like you still have that Jonin infestation," Ino teased as they were approaching Sakura's house and from halfway down the block they saw a light in the kitchen flip on and then off quickly. It was faint—the one over the sink—and it was a familiar signal that even the blond knew.

"It's gotten worse," Sakura replied she paused and handed her shopping bags off to her friend. Two blinks meant that there was an injury to attend to. One was just a warning. It meant that one of the guys was watching for her and trying to let her know that they were there so that she didn't step into the house and immediately throw the first guy that startled her through a wall. It was lucky for Naruto that she hadn't _seriously_ broke his jaw that time…

"How's that?"

Sakura snorted as she began to fish around in her hip pouch. "A whole squad showed up last night. They were all injured and one of them had a chest wound that bled all over my kitchen floor."

"Aw, but you just got that nice tile installed in there. Blood will be a bitch to get out of the grout," Ino said, sounding put-out. She had helped pick out the tile after all. "So, _how_ did this all get started anyway? You never explained."

Sakura heaved a sigh as she pulled out a hair band. "You said you were worried about Shikamaru not going to the hospital after his missions and Tenten mentioned something about Neji and Lee overexerting themselves all the time and _I_ worry about my boys, because they're blockheads and they'd never take care of themselves if I wasn't around to badger them."

"_Sooo_…?"

"Sooo, it started with convincing Kakashi-sensei to come to my house to get his injuries treated if he wasn't going to go to the hospital. I live closer to the city gates after all and I live alone. Then I might _maybe_ have told him that he should let the other Jonin know that if they need anything that isn't serious treatment they could drop by and I'd look them over."

"Oh, Forehead," Ino breathed around her exponentially growing smile, "you _didn't_. You _know_ how those guys are!"

"Yeah, _I know_. It's like they're in competition to see who can go longest without a hospital visit, but it's better than them just not getting treated," Sakura grumbled back. "Except none of them seem to get what a _serious_ injury is, because Sai came over when he had a kunai jammed in his thigh. Then Naruto came with a broken wrist and Kiba dropped by with a concussion and, God, it's just been downhill to chest wounds and busted skulls from there. The whole crashing on my couch thing wasn't my idea either, but whatever."

Ino nodded at her friend's exasperated tone and then asked, with a knowing gleam in her eye, "How's your ratio?"

A smirk suddenly came over Sakura's lips and she raised her chin proudly as she finished her ponytail with a flourish and a flick of pink locks. "I haven't lost one yet."

"That's great… but you have to do something about this, Forehead," Ino said, frowning when she saw the lights blink again. Sakura noticed it too and they started to pick up their pace. "You can't be working twelve hours at the hospital and then come home and pull a night shift in your own house. Talk to Tsunade about it. She's personally dragged a few of the guys in before, hasn't she?"

Sakura sighed, trying to ignore the slight concern she felt swelling in her chest. Two blinks. That was never a good sign. After all, if a kunai just an inch away from a femoral artery _wasn't_ a serious injury, what the hell was? But maybe it was Naruto and he was just being impatient. Except, the blinks hadn't been consecutive…

"I already talked to her and she thought it was a great idea. She's even started to shift my hospital hours around so that I'm just doing rounds and paperwork rather than attending to any of the injured so that I have more energy when I get home."

"_What_?"

The girl shrugged. "She told me to just think of it as running a small ER. The serious injuries get to my house first and I patch them up enough so that they can at least make it to the hospital or go home if they're well enough. At least our hospital-phobic guys are getting treatment this way and I still get paid—crap!"

Sakura dropped her bags when the light flipped on and off again and broke into a run. Ino snatched the fallen items and darted after her. Maybe she wasn't as great of a medic as Sakura, who was said to have matched Tsunade's abilities already at age nineteen, but maybe she could be of some use because she wasn't even sure if there _was_ a meaning assigned to three blinks besides, _"hurry the fuck up"_.

Besides, Ino liked to watch her friend when she went into medic-mode. In an instant, Sakura went from her pretty, pink-haired shopping buddy to an almost perfect replica of her mentor as she punted open her own front door—in high heels no less—and charged inside. The image could only be more complete with an expanded bust-line and a harried assistant trailing after her.

"What the—_whoa_."

Sakura was always prepared for whatever may lay inside her own house. With Jonin it was hard to tell. Their injuries could vary from the mundane to critical, but she never let it catch her off guard. However, she was _not_ prepared to come face-to-face with an ANBU operative in her own kitchen. Well, face-to-mask at any rate… an eyeless mask with red marks on the forehead and chin and a permanent smile that was _somewhat_ off-putting.

He moved to approach her but stopped short when Ino appeared just behind Sakura, nearly bumping into her friend. The blond, upon seeing the masked shinobi, stopped mid-question and just stared.

"Um… you should maybe go," Sakura murmured.

"You sure?"

The medic noted the blood staining the shinobi's breastplate and the slightly tattered state of his cloak, the hood of which he had pulled up to hide his hair. She nodded. "I… yeah. Go put my things in my room and then leave. I'll page you if I need anything."

Without another word, Ino vanished and Sakura looked to the ANBU operative, frowning. "You're not injured," she noted. It was the best icebreaker she could come up with in this situation.

He was silent as he moved then to the door at the back of the kitchen and passed through it into the laundry room. Or what used to be the laundry room. After her chat with Tsunade, Sakura had come home to find that her house, at the cost of said laundry room, was now equipped with a rustic examine room complete with cot and a chest of sterile medical tools. She tried to think of it as Tsunade's way of saying that she trusted her rather than as a massive invasion of her privacy. After all, she had liked her laundry room. Then again, all of the guys dropping by just whenever they needed to, or felt like it, was also a rather large invasion of said privacy.

"And you brought friends."

Two more ANBU: one laid out on the bed and the other, also in cloak and hood, was crouched over him, pressing a folded cloth that looked suspiciously like the cot's fitted sheet into a shoulder wound.

"Looks like I've received some kind of promotion I didn't know about," she muttered as she approached the injured shinobi. She motioned for the other to move and lifted the wadded sheet. "Unless you guys just were on your way to a costume party and got lost. If that's the case, this is one extremely convincing make-up job. Oh and it looks like you dislocated his collarbone while you were at it. I admire that sort of dedication. I usually just dress like Tsunade and stuff my bra."

No one laughed. She didn't really expect them to, but talking made _her_ feel better. It at least kept her from thinking too hard about the situation. After all, it couldn't be a good sign that they had showed up at her house rather than just going directly to the hospital or, like, cannibalizing their wounded teammate.

_Ugh_, she couldn't think like that. Kakashi was ANBU. Or he used to be at any rate. It was hard to tell and getting a straight answer out of the man was predictably impossible. But they weren't animals. Unnerving as hell, yes; killers, yes; but they were no more monstrous than her or—_what the hell did he think he was doing?_

Sakura turned her head to look into the eyeless, white mask of the ninja that had just grabbed her wrist. She smiled to disguise her urge to bare her teeth. "Okay, Pumpkin," she began with the same saccharine sweetness she used in the children's ward at the hospital, "If you're scared for your friend, you can ask _him_—" she indicated the ninja on the other side of the bed with the cat-like mask—"to hold your hand. I'd do it, but I'll be needing both of mine. It's a medic thing."

"The mask stays."

Had she even been reaching for the, oh hey, she had been. Tsunade hadn't been kidding about these things becoming second nature after a while. "It's medical procedure. I have to check his breathing, throat, and heart to make sure that they're okay with his collarbone the way it is. The mask will get in my way of those first one if you didn't guess."

"The mask stays."

Sakura did snarl at that and with a sharp tug, she jerked her hand free of his iron grip. "Look, I get it that you want me to do this telekinetically, but in about another five minutes you'll be needing to make some plans for your friend's hospital stay because he'll be going into shock in about ten minutes from blood loss. If this is about clearance, I grew up with about half the ninja that make up the Jonin ranks now and I'm the Hokage's apprentice. If a big breach in security happens _everyone _knows how to find me."

She was removing the mask even as she spoke and with a rather flippant flick of her wrist she tossed it to Mr. Eyeless.

"Hey, Pinkie. You sound like Tsunade-sama when she's pissed."

Sakura scowled slightly, her brows furrowing in concern. She never liked it when she knew her patients. "Thank you, Genma. I'd say that I was happy to see you if that shoulders of yours didn't look like it hurt so much. By the way, you ate my last apple the other day."

He grinned wryly, despite the blood trickling down his chin. "Sorry. Needed something before heading out."

"Well, at least you're eating. I sometimes have to force food down Kakashi-sensei's throat, which is no easy task with that mask in the way." She pressed her glowing fingertips to his neck, checking his heart rate, airway, and blood pressure as she tried to gauge just how much blood he had lost. "Mind telling me how long you've been bleeding and what happened?"

"Probably a couple hours; used some styptic to slow it down. And, you know, it's the same-old, same-old. Enemy ninja, kunai, jutsus…"

"No more questions."

Mr. Eyeless again. Sakura rolled her eyes. "Blah-blah-blah, political red-tape, blah-blah-blah." She pushed Genma's hair off of his forehead instinctively and then pressed two glowing hands into his chest, pushing a surge of chakra into his body. "You'll be fine. I have to set the bone and the blood loss is of some concern, but otherwise this doesn't look _too _bad."

"I bet you say that to all of the dying guys you meet," he replied as he cringed at the initial sensation of her chakra seeping into him.

She smiled. "You're not dying. In fact, as far as giant holes in the upper torso go, this one isn't too bad. Now, if I start calling you handsome and asking you out for drinks then you should start to worry about dying."

"Got a thing for that kinda guy?"

"Hey, they keep me in business."

* * *

"He can stay here."

Sakura paused, waiting for a response and then detected a scowl of disapproval from behind the eyeless mask.

"I apologize, because maybe that sounded like that was a suggestion. Let me rephrase: he _will_ stay here. I'll get hold of a Jonin uniform and have him change. No one has to know you guys were even in the neighborhood."

Still, no response.

"Kakashi-sensei, I swear to God if that's you behind that mask giving me crap I'm going to punch you so hard that your Sharingan pops out. Look, you have two options. He stays here or I go and wake up Tsunade-sama and _she_ gets to tell you that he stays here."

No response, but luckily for the shinobi who would now be known to Sakura as Jackass-san, the other stepped up and laid a hand upon his shoulder. A silent conversation passed between the two and then they both disappeared, leaving a cloud of leaves in their wake.

Sakura couldn't help but think that maybe that was Jackass-san giving her the finger in some way, because now she'd have to sweep up the mess. With a glance in the direction of the laundry she wondered if she could get Genma to tell her who the guy was. The next time he was at the hospital for a physical she thought that she'd like to be there to give it to him.

* * *

"Sakura. In my office. Now. And close the door."

It was never a good thing when Tsunade said it like that, Sakura thought with a slight frown. Shutting the door was even worse. That usually meant that there as going to be a lot of yelling or that Tsunade wanted a solid, but easily fixed surface to throw someone through.

"Tsunade-sama?" she asked as she stepped inside. She nudged the door shut with her foot and approached the woman's desk, her arms loosely crossed over her front. Shizune was missing, which wasn't good either. The assistant was usually able to keep Tsunade's temper in line or at least assist her victims in the aftermath.

"I heard you had a few of strange visitors last night."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and then noticed the file that laid open on the woman's desk. Great, the medical report she had given Shizune. She had thrown the classified sticker on it because it pertained to ANBU operatives and while Tsunade didn't usually glance twice at any of the files, it must have seemed to warrant a look.

"Yes. It's in the report," Sakura replied. "Am I in trouble?"

"Oh no, no," the woman said with a wave of her hand and a faint grin. "I just wanted to review this with you and clear up a couple things. You refer to a… Kitty-chan and Jackass-san."

Sakura looked away sheepishly, suddenly remembering why she usually didn't write her medical reports at two in the morning. "Sorry about that," she replied. "I only recognized Genma and… yeah, sorry about."

Tsunade, however, looked rather amused. "I see. What rubbed you the wrong way about the operative?"

She sighed. "I had to take off Genma's mask to check his breathing because he had a displaced collarbone and the guy grabbed my arm to stop me."

"And?"

"And I told him off."

"Then you took Genma's mask off anyway?"

"Well, yeah," Sakura huffed. "A displaced collarbone is nothing to joke about and I had to make sure he could… why am I telling you this? You know it already."

Tsunade grinned. "I just like to be sure that you know it every once in a while," she said. "How's Genma?"

"He was asleep when I left this morning. I asked Ino to drop by and make sure he didn't do anything stupid… like leave." Her eyes narrowed fractionally at the thought. If that ass made her hunt him down he was _so_ going to regret it.

"You can't break his legs if he wanders off, Sakura. That's my job." Tsunade met her student's eyes they shared a quick smile before they both returned again to business. "What about his shoulder?"

"It was a little worrisome, but nothing too difficult and I managed to set his collarbone without a lot of trouble. He did lose quite a bit of blood though, so he probably shouldn't be sent out right away on any missions."

Tsunade hummed at this and flipped a page in the report. Sakura watched her for a moment, her eyebrow creeping slowly up her forehead as she watched. "Um, Tsunade-sama?"

"Hm?"

"Can I go?"

"Oh." The woman looked up and blinked. "Yes, go on, Sakura. We're done. Good job handling the ANBU boys."

Sakura nodded and turned toward the door, but paused, frowning a bit. "Tsunade-sama?"

"What?" the blond woman lifted her head slightly to indicate that she was listening, but her eyes never left the report

"Did… did _you_ give them permission to come see me?"

"I may have mentioned something about you to them, yes."

She blinked a few times and then frowned. "_Ooh-kay_… why?"

"Hmm… you have rounds to make, Sakura."

The frown deepened as she turned back to the door. "So subtle, Shishou."

* * *

1. The kitchen tiles were blue if you were wondering.

2. Would Tsunade actually agree to this situation? Well, yes or there wouldn't be plot.

3. Yes this will be Kakashi/Sakura romance, I will not dwell on angst, and there will be an actual relationship to be had. Fun, right?

4. And maybe some smut... hint hint, nudge nudge.

5. Yes, Sakura snarked ANBU operatives. Would she do this? Hm, I like to think that her medic-mode is more or less Inner Sakura unleashed with a purpose. I don't think she'd let much stand in her way, not even a dude with a katana. Plus, if she was already kicking Sasori ass (I consider all of her character-fail moments following that fight to be discontinuity) at fourteen/fifteen-ish with just two years of serious training under her belt, can you imagine the ass she'd be kicking as she got older?

_Reviews are greatly appreciated and they fuel the fire of creativity._ If you leave one, Kakashi might appear shirtless next chapter.

Just saying...


	2. In Which There is Shirtlessness

**House Calls**

**Chapter 2**

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"God knows this is how I love spending my lunch hour."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

The girl sighed as she unwrapped an antiseptic cloth and then returned to her battered, blond teammate, who was seated at the kitchen table with Sai, who was nursing a black eye and a slew of smaller cuts and bruises, and Genma, who looked highly amused as he sipped from a bottle of beer. Her eyes narrowed. Not exactly a health food she wanted her patients consuming, but she wasn't going to argue. She was, however, going to find it and throw it out just because they thought they had to hide it from her.

Cloth in hand, she began to clean the opened skin of Naruto's scalp. It almost looked like one of Sai's lions had tried to use him as a chew-toy, but she wasn't going to ask. "I told you guys to be more careful," she murmured. "Sai, you bait him and then Naruto, you take it and then you end up _here_ when I should be enjoying my food."

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," the pair said again, in unison.

"And the next time—"

"Sorry, Sakura-chan."

Genma laughed outright at this. "You two are so whipped."

The girl scowled at him. "They are not," she said. "Now hush or I might decide that your physical needs to come early this year."

It was Naruto who snickered then as Sai grinned from around the ice pack he had pressed to his face.

"Doctors are supposed to be nice, you know," Genma snorted.

"Tsunade set a precedence that will never be reversed. Oh,_ stop it_; it's not cute when a man your age pouts like…" Sakura trailed off, still holding Naruto's chin cupped in one hand as she turned her head and frowned at the kitchen doorway.

Naruto tipped his head back a little to look at his teammate. "Sakura-chan? What's the matter?"

The girl didn't answer him, but instead called into the next room, "Nara Shikamaru, if that's you, you'd better put that cigarette out before I come in there and see it! I am not kidding! You know I hate that as much as Ino and Kurenai do!"

There was silence for a long moment and then a quietly muttered cursed followed by, "Troublesome woman."

"Damn, girl," Genma said with a grin, "I didn't even hear him."

"Not a confidence-inducing thought." She smirked teasingly back at him as she dabbed at Naruto's scalp and then looked over to Sai. "How's the face?"

The artist moved the ice pack briefly to show off his swollen eye. She cringed a little at that and then looked to the doorway as the Nara genius appeared. Sakura did her best to mirror his scowl. "Don't look at me like that," she chastised. "You know the rules. If you guys are going to treat this place like a clinic then we're going to follow clinic rules. Besides, it's disgusting."

"_Hn_."

"Pinkie, think of it as a tribute to Asuma," Genma suggested. "Women get sentimental about that kind of thing, right? If Tsunade-sama ever kicks off and you start wearing pig-tails, you're going to get a lot of crap."

The girl ignored him as she abandoned Naruto to approach Shikamaru. His eyes narrowed as she smiled at him and then promptly stomped on his foot, aiming high toward his instep. The Jonin's uttered an undignified squawk of protest and Sakura grabbed him by the chin and pulled out the cigarette he had been hiding in his mouth.

"It's still lit. Very impressive," Sakura said and then, with a rather pointed stare focused on the Jonin, she smothered against the marble countertop to her right.

"You're worse than my mom," Shikamaru huffed as she casually flicked the butt into the sink. "And that was my last one."

"I still have that box of nicotine patches," she replied in a sing-song voice.

"Now that would just be redundant." He let his weight sink back against the wall. "I smoke cigarettes for that purpose."

Genma and Naruto chuckled at that while Sakura rolled her eyes. "Fine. What are you here for?"

"Well, _now_ I might need my foot looked at." He gave her a pointed stare, which she ignored. "Ino just told me to drop off my extra uniform and not ask any questions. Also, she's pissed at you. Just a heads up."

Sakura cringed. She had intentionally dropped by the flower shop when she knew that Inoichi, not his daughter, would be at the counter and left the message about the uniform thing with him to give to Ino. She had been on her way to work and couldn't take time out to talk to Ino, who she knew would want all of the details about the night previous. Ino was drawn to intrigue and gossip like an ant to sugar.

Naruto frowned at that. "Why?" he asked, looking to Nara and then back to Sakura as she moved onto Sai.

"I wasn't listening," Shikamaru replied with a shrug. "It was something about last night and whoever was here."

Genma glanced in Sakura's direction, which no one present notice of as all eyes were on her and not him anyway. The girl seemed oblivious to this as she responded in an incredibly offhanded manner, "I had a few ANBU operatives hanging out in the kitchen when Ino and I got here. She's probably upset that I haven't talked to her about it. You know how nosy she is."

There was a beat and then Shikamaru rolled his eyes and Naruto pouted. "C'mon, Sakura-chan! What happened?"

"Naruto, it's just a girl thing. I'll take her out to lunch tomorrow, buy her a pair of shoes, and we'll be good," she explained, flashing him a smile that seemed to go a little way toward putting him at ease

In _so_ many ways, after coming so far in the way of being a shinobi and a man, Naruto was still sweet, gullible _Naruto_. Smiling a little wider she reached out to squeeze his hand that was resting on the arm of his chair, saying without words, "_I'm fine."_

Thankfully, _that_ seemed to convince him and she ignored his next comment to Shikamaru and Genma about women being weird. Wisely, neither man answered.

It was several minutes later, after she finished healing Sai's eye and cleaning the minor cuts on his cheeks and arms, that the boys decided to leave. Naruto hugged her from behind as she washing her hands at the sink, lifting her off her feet and making her laugh outright, Sai attempted the same, if somewhat awkwardly, which made her smile anyway, and Shikamaru grunted something about needing more cigarettes.

Genma watched them go and then, when he heard the front door shut, he looked to Sakura, who was rooting around in the fridge for something quick to eat. "Tell them the crazy-sounding truth so they'll dismiss it," he drawled. "Nice tactics. How'd you know it'd work?"

She shrugged. "Well assuming Sai is still involved in ANBU, he knows that Tsunade gave permission for them to come here for emergency care and he won't say anything. As for the other two; Shikamaru won't waste the effort thinking about it too much and Naruto is Naruto."

"True," Genma murmured with a nod. "He's got a big mouth anyway."

The girl laughed as she pulled out a container of yogurt from the fridge door and then reached into the nearest cupboard drawer for a spoon. "I didn't notice." She glanced at him and then back down to her yogurt. "So, you ANBU guys are pretty cloak and dagger and just oh-so-charming."

He grinned. "Yeah, I heard you and my teammate going at it. You're pretty gutsy, Pinkie."

Sakura smiled at that, but lapsed into thoughtfulness she stirred her lunch and tried to get comfortable against the counter. "So, am I going to end up dead one of these days because I saw your face? Your friend was pretty touchy about it."

"He's just all about protocol," Genma replied with a shrug. "Don't worry about it."

She nodded and glanced at the clock on the wall. "I just hope I didn't get you into any trouble."

"No more than I apparently would've been. You said something about going into shock?"

"You weren't _quite_ that bad," she replied with a sheepish smile. "But he was getting in my way and I figured I had to make it sound serious so he'd back off."

He grinned at this and nodded. "Does that mean I'm free to go?"

Sakura glanced at the clock again and set her yogurt down on the cupboard. "Let me have a look."

She moved to stand behind him and laid her hands on his shoulder, where the skin was still new and pink. Genma took an unfazed swig out of his beer as she began pulling chakra to her hands to check the progress of the muscles and veins.

The truth was that he had only survived the bleeding because of the styptic. To that end, if his attacker had pulled his swing just a little bit more to the left, even styptic wouldn't have helped gushing arterial blood. It was by luck alone that he had made it. But she wasn't going to tell him that.

_"Sakura, after everything is said and done, after every wound has been tended to and closed, the details don't matter to anyone but us medics," _Tsunade had told her a long time ago. _"We're ninja. We live with death everyday, with knowing just how close it might be—one more mission, one more night in enemy territory, one more chance taken. That doesn't need to be narrowed down any further to include one more inch."_

"I want you either here or at the hospital in two days so your collarbone can be checked again," she spoke up, prodding the top of Genma's shaggy head with one pointed finger. "No physical exertion for a week. I talked to Tsunade-sama this morning, so you should be getting more information from her about whether or not you'll be taking missions any time soon."

"Anything else, _Mom_?"

She cuffed him gently as smiled. "_No_. Get dressed and get out."

* * *

For the first time in weeks, Sakura came home to an empty house. No ninja waiting for her to patch them back together, no Ino ready to pummel her for still not calling, no ANBU operatives lurking in the corner waiting to shank her for unmasking one of their men. In other words it was the perfect time for an obscenely long shower.

Sakura already had her shirt over her head and was working on the clasp of her skirt when she reached her bedroom. The rest of her clothes soon followed.

She had to take opportunities when they presented themselves. All visits were rather impromptu so moments of "Sakura Time" were few and far between. Not that she begrudged them. The older guys' hospital-phobia had rubbed off on the younger generation and while a few of them could be talked into going, it was no easy task.

But she understood the mentality. Hospitals weren't a good place for ninja. Hospitals meant small, cramped rooms, glaring, overhead lights, and utter, _utter _helplessness. In the hospital, skills were useless. There were no assailants to take frustration out on, just the nurses and the doctors trying to give comfort, while you could only lay and just… wait.

Sakura sighed and retrieved a pair of panties and a bra from her top drawer followed by a long night shirt and boxers. The shower that followed was a half hour of uninterrupted bliss and when she stepped out, pulling her shirt down over her head, she felt decidedly human again.

With a giggle, she gleefully launched herself into bed, landing on the down comforter with a satisfying 'whump'. She flipped the light switch beside her headboard and then flopped back onto her pillows. Sleep. Wonderful, blissful sleep…

* * *

A whole three hours of it.

Sakura's eyes popped open and she found herself staring into the glaring, neon numerals of her alarm clock. It was two in the morning. She was tempted to scream and swear, but thought better of it. After all, what had awakened her?

At first, when she noted the '_plink-plink'_ of rain against the tin roof, she thought that it might have been thunder, but it had never woken her in the past. Was it one of the boys? No, usually when there was an emergency, the guys didn't bother to be quiet and she couldn't hear them scrambling around in the living room or kitchen.

She sat up in bed and cast a weary glance around the room. When her eyes reached the window and she saw a figure crouched on the sill there she did what any seasoned ninja would do… she let out a startled yelp and fell backwards out of bed.

Tsunade would've been _so_ proud.

Snarling, Sakura sat up and used her arm to sweep her tangled, pink locks out of her face. She got to her feet, one fist glowing in green chakra as she stalked over to the window, unlatched it, slid it open, and then paused.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Yo."

It was said with a familiar eye-crinkle and wave, but nothing else about Kakashi at that moment warranted his brutal casualness. He was soaked from head to toe, dripping on her floor, and reeked of an unsettlingly familiar scent. Her annoyance immediately turned to worry.

"You're bleeding," she said, feeling lame even as the words escaped her.

With the eye-crinkle still in place he shrugged. "Ah," he agreed, "A bit."

Sakura stepped aside to let him in, but then lunged for him as he lightly hopped down and promptly _lost his balance_. Really, it was just the slightest of wobbles, but it was enough to send her heart into her throat. Never in the seven years that she knew him had Hatake Kakashi ever lost his balance.

"So, how's it going?" he asked as she led him to the door and opened it.

His tone was that of old friends catching up, like he had just stopped by for midday tea. Sakura would've laughed if she didn't suddenly feel so sick. "I'm good."

She turned on the kitchen light as she led him to the laundry room and then flipped on that light as well.

"Sit here," she instructed as she helped him into the cot. She could see now what the dark of her bedroom had obscured; the rips in his shirt, the fact that his flak jacket was outright missing, meaning that at some point it had become more of a burden than a help.

"Your hair's long," Kakashi noted and she heard rather than saw his frown.

Sakura nodded as she began to root around in her medical chest for antiseptic and rags. "And the sky's blue," she replied just as casually. She glanced back at him. "I've decided to let it grow out. Don't act surprised, you've been gone for three months, Kakashi-sensei."

"Ah, right."

As nerve-wracked as she was between being woken up at this hour and the worry she felt about the fact that he had presumably come to her _first_, his attitude did something to ease her. He never panicked, never worried. In fact, the casual chit-chat was helping her ground herself. It let her slip a little easier into medic-mode, into the mechanical motions of someone who was treating another patient rather than a teacher and friend even though the worry and anxiety still lingered at the forefront of her mind.

"Can you take your shirt off?" she asked.

"Why, Sakura-chan, I'm flattered, but I'm not that kind of man…"

She rolled her eyes and approached him again immediately. "I'll take that as a no."

Coaxing him to lean forward into her so that he wouldn't have to lift his arms, Sakura slid her hands up under the hem of his Jonin top and began to work it up over his chest and back, where nearly every inch of him was bruised. She was careful to stretch the neck of the shirt enough to get it over his head and then gently pulled it down his arms. When he straightened again, she cringed at the ugly and impressive gouge in his side and the five different shades of purple his ribs were.

"You idiot," Sakura breathed. Vaguely she heard his shirt hitting the floor with a wet 'plop'.

"What, this? This isn't _that _bad," he said dismissively. He complied when she motioned for him to lay back and she perched herself on the edge of the mattress next to him.

"Then why did you come here?"

Kakashi motioned vaguely with his hand. "Well, there is this annoying pain when I breathe…"

Oh, she was going to strangle him. She was going to heal him and then strangle him for just being _Kakashi_ and for being so Kakashi-like when he was this much of a mess. The thought made her feel better about wanting to cry.

* * *

Years of missions and cramped accommodations had necessitated the swift death of modesty among Team Kakashi. About ninety percent of the time only one bathroom was available for their use, so they had adjusted accordingly. The fact that Sakura was more than willing to hand out a black eye or broken jaw kept Naruto, with his tendency to be a perverted moron, and Sai, with his tendency to be an insensitive moron, in line.

This agreement especially came in handy when Sakura found herself hosting any one of her team mates at her house. The bathroom was situated between the two bedrooms and when it was anyone else, she had to be careful about keeping doors locked. The worry was abated with her boys.

"How are your ribs feeling?" she asked over the sound of the running shower as she entered the bathroom from her bedroom. She glanced at the curtain and found herself weighing the pros and cons of whipping it aside to get a glimpse of her old sensei's face… the risk being that she'd see a _whole_ lot more than just his face. Then again, he'd be just another name to add to the "Men I've Seen Nearly/Wholly Naked Because I'm the Best Medic in Konoha Take That Ino-Pig!" list.

"How are broken ribs supposed to feel?"

Sakura hummed, deciding that practically jumping Kakashi in the shower _might_ put him off to future visits; stab wounds or no stab wounds. Besides, the punishment for attempted mask theft had become harsher since their Genin days. It was proportionate now to their age and how he expected them to behave, Kakashi had explained with an eye-squeeze. He had demonstrated this new policy not too long ago when Naruto gave it a go. It hadn't ended well. Oh, it had been hilarious of course, crippling her _and_ Sai with laughter until they were reduced to hanging onto each other to remain upright, but she wasn't going to risk the same retribution.

"You tell me. You've broken yours so many times your torso is a miracle of medical science. The next time Tsunade sends me to Suna as a loaner, I plan to impress the head doctors there by dazzling them with how many times I've put your sternum back where it belongs."

There was a chuckle from behind the curtain and Sakura smiled at the familiar sound. It was rare, but she had grown up hearing it every now and then and, like the rest of his demeanor, it soothed her. His sputter of pain that followed made her smile widen slightly. It served the bastard right for the fact that she had dark circles to cover up this morning.

Sakura grabbed her lotion from the sink and went about rubbing it up and down her legs, which were freshly smooth from her shower. She paused and took a tentative sniff. "Kakashi-sensei, are you using my shampoo?"

"I have few other options. Problem?"

She did a bad job of stifling her laughter. "No. It'll be funny when you go into debrief Tsunade on your mission and then have to explain why you smell like strawberries. In fact, can I watch?"

"And you wonder why you weren't my favorite."

He meant it teasingly of course, but the way his last word was barely finished signified that he realized, albeit too late, how it had sounded. Sakura felt the old wound open a little and fled the bathroom. As much as she wanted to tear the door of the hinges just for the satisfaction of breaking _something_, she settled for quietly shutting it.

"Sakura-chan?"

He had obviously skipped conditioning because it wasn't a minute later that there was a gentle knock on said door. Sakura ignored it. She stepped into a mini-skirt and pulled an extra-long tank top on before slinking out, snagging her hip pouch off the dresser as she went.

"Sakura."

The girl didn't look at him as she pulled her boots on at the front door. "Take it easy today," she replied. "You can hang around for a while if you want or you can go back to your place, which ever. I'll drop by later to finish healing those ribs. I hate to run, but I just remembered that Tsunade wanted me to come in early this morning."

"Ninja should be good liars."

Sakura had to unclench her jaw when she did look at him. He was standing with his shoulder against the doorframe of her bedroom, wearing the tattered pants he had arrived in while water dripped from his hair and skin. He had apparently taken the time to pull his mask on, but not dry off.

"Well, I never was your best student," she replied with a smile and a shrug. She turned to the door then, dropping her keys into her hip pouch. "Welcome home, Kakashi."

* * *

1. Whew, that was long.

2. You guys are awesome. All of you. I loved hearing from you and I'm so happy that you liked the first chapter. Let's hope you liked this one.

3. Sakura didn't hear Shikamaru either. She smelled him. If you worked in a sterile, smoke-free environment all day, you'd be able to smell a smoker in the next room. Especially if he had a lit cigarette.

4. Speaking of lit cigarettes: ouch. Take note that Shikamaru only did this because it was his last one. Otherwise, tempting Sakura's wrath would've been too troublesome. (Also, that trick is entirely possible.)

5. Kakashi is the master of Casual Danger Dialogue and Major Injury Under-reaction(look it up on ). Sakura is not impressed.

6. Yes, her hair is longer in this. Why? Cause I liked it better that way. Besides, in my head it'd be her way of saying that she's confident enough in her own abilities to know that she'll never be in a situation again where her hair will be a target.

7. I can't imagine Sakura would be as worried about the whole gender separation thing after so many years of being with those guys. Imagine it like being on a team and changing in a locker room together. You eventually just get over it.

8. ZOMG SHIRTLESS KAKASHI!

9. Yes I went there. Cue rant: while I have made Sakura a hard ass snarker in medic mode, I refuse to make her an out and out emotionless bitch who dismisses all of her emotions and feelings. I like her and Kakashi's relationship because of the dynamic of teacher not knowing what to do with a student and then having to watch her grow up and become a successful woman right under his nose and without him. Do I think it'd matter to Sakura after so many years? Yes. Why? Because she respects Kakashi and she was twelve when it happened. That's a fragile age. When you're rejected or pushed aside at that age by someone prominent in your life, it hurts and it hangs with you for a long time.

_God, that section almost ended up as long as the chapter itself. If you made it through all of that, you are a trooper man. Now, please review... who knows? More shirtless bishonen might await you. _

**(What I'm saying is that I bought you with sex last chapter, so I'm trying to buy you guys again. How about a fluffy, awkward make-up scene next chapter with a side of Tsunade being awesome? Plus, you know, more Kaka-sexy.)**

Review pls?


	3. In Which There is Exposition

**Note:** Fair warning, the story starts out with some contemplative emotional-ish stuff. I figured that this was an elephant that would have to be addressed eventually and this is as good as any time for some heavy exposition. I tried to temper it with Tsunade being badass.

**Note 2:** Emjan-chan and anon (whoever you are, you masked person), thanks for the heads up!

* * *

**House Calls**

**Chapter 3**

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* * *

**

Sakura hated spring. She hated the way the sight of the newborn leaves and freshly bloomed flowers made her gut ache and twist. She hated how the chirping of the crickets and the soft glow of fireflies at night made her feel lonely and sick.

Sasuke had died in the spring. It was an irony that had never escaped her. Right as everything was coming back to life his had ended and with him went so many other things. An entire bloodline, the good days of Team Seven, a small part of hers and Naruto's hearts; all of those things dead and gone, buried with him in his shallow, traitor's grave.

Yet, she had mourned him. He had ruined everything in the end, with his stupid, revenge-induced myopia, with his selfishness. He dismissed both her and Naruto as his past and some part of her hated, _hated_ him for everything he had put them through. But she had resisted the temptation to cut him out of her old Team Seven photo and she kept his scratched forehead protector in a box under her bed with one of her old, red dresses and one of Naruto's stupid, orange jackets.

For as much as she wanted to forget everything, she just couldn't. Without Sasuke to hunt for she would have never strove to be a better kunoichi, she would have never had the courage to approach Tsunade to take her as an apprentice, and she would have never opened her damned eyes and realized how good the friends she had were.

It was possibly the only good he had ever done for her. It was why she was quick to indulge Naruto when he wanted a hug, why she was patient with Sai in the moments that he still struggled with emotion and tact, and why she better appreciated Kakashi and all his quirks. She never let fights drag out when they could be resolved in the same moment of their birth and she never let them leave without tagging along if she could.

Life was too short to linger in the past, like he had. She'd fix what was right in front of her that moment, embrace the friends that stuck beside her in rib-crushing hugs, and worry about everything else the next day.

So, after she shut the door and stalked off that morning, it only took Sakura a couple blocks before she was ready to punch someone. Preferably herself. Way to prove you've grown out of the past, Sakura. Way to act like an adult. She mockingly patted herself on the back all the way to the Hokage tower, where she proceeded to pick a fight with Tsunade. As if sensing this ulterior motive, the woman took the bait.

"Keep up, Sakura! I haven't spent six years training you to be _this_ unimpressed!"

Tsunade's grin was positively maniacal as her fist collided with a tree trunk, level to where Sakura's head had previously been. The poor Oak promptly snapped in half. A bang up job, Sakura. Lead the crazy woman into the woods and give her an entire forest of things to pulp you with.

"Well, I just feel bad, Shishou! You're getting to be an old woman, after all!"

Some would assume that Sakura had a death wish. Even she, as she copied her mentor's unnerving smile and dodged out of the way, knew that she had just crossed a line that not even the most elite of their shinobi would dare draw near.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes and, with a show of speed that Sakura wouldn't expect out of anyone else her age, she appeared in front of the girl and punted her toward the trunk of a much larger Oak. Sakura managed to recover mid-air and collided with the tree feet-first, cushioning herself with some of her own chakra as she snapped the tree in two. She rolled to her feet as a spray of wood shards came down around her and then leapt out of the way as Tsunade appeared again and promptly shattered the earth with a punch that would have done a little more than tickle.

Sakura landed lightly on a pyre of rock that jutted up from the ground and then lifted a hand to dab the blood from her lip. Tsunade noticed this and frowned. "I didn't get you with that last one, did I?" she called.

"No, I'm fine," Sakura replied with a bright smile. "You're not _that_ fast."

Tsunade smirked and straightened. "Your trash talk would be more convincing if you weren't breathing so hard," she said as she turned away. "Come on. We'll take a ten minute break."

Sakura nodded and darted after her. Tsunade broke into a run, forcing the girl to speed up in and attempt to catch her. The chase led them through the tree tops and Sakura would have won if Tsunade wasn't apparently some kind of mutant. Seriously, she had to be pushing sixty by now, right?

However, when Tsunade emerged in the clearing ahead of her, Sakura figured she'd get the last word in and leapt down from the nearest tree to tackle the smug blond with one foot extended and a triumphant cry of, "Ha!"

So much for the great Slug—damn it!

Shizune, who was standing about ten feet away, did not look impressed with either contender as the Hokage held her flailing apprentice up by the ankle, having snagged the pink-haired girl out of the air with the same casualness most people used to shoo flies.

Sakura gave up and finally just let herself hang limp, sighing as she looked to Shizune. "Hi!"

The Hokage's usually frazzled assistant smiled warmly at the girl. "Good morning, Sakura-san," she said. "I was wondering where Tsunade-sama had run off to when she wasn't in her office."

"You checked all the bars and casinos that fast?" Sakura asked with mock surprise.

Tsunade snorted indignantly and promptly released Sakura's ankle. The girl threw her arms out to land on her hands and then lowered her feet to the ground all the while glowering at her mentor. Innocently, the busty blond dropped to the grass beside her.

Shizune shook her head as she offered out two bento boxes, which were eagerly accepted. "Actually," she began, "a few of the Genin teams reported earthquakes and tremors close to the training grounds and I took a wild guess."

Tsunade and Sakura pursed their lips to suppress their smiles, but Shizune didn't miss that or the way they shared a conspiring glance that told her they weren't even remotely apologetic about it either. "I should get back to the office," she said with a resigned sigh and a look around. She'd need to call a few of the groundskeepers to take care of the training field after Konoha's two woman demolition team was done. She bowed. "Tsunade-sama. Sakura-san."

Sakura waved and smiled as she watched the woman depart.

"Thanks for coming out here with me, Shishou," she said after a long pause. She glanced at Tsunade and smiled. "I needed the workout."

The woman nodded. "I figured as much when you came into the office in such a mood," she replied. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh, not really." Sakura shifted and picked at her food with her chopsticks, rolling a rice ball around and chewing her lip. "I'm just feeling kind of stupid after a _thing_ this morning and… well, I'll fix it later."

"Nothing you want to talk about?"

She shook her head, pink locks swaying as she did so. "No, I'll be okay. I promise."

Tsunade hummed. Even she wasn't enough of a sucker to buy that fake smile. "I know you sometimes get this way around this time of year," the Slug Princess began slowly, watching her apprentice's reactions carefully. While there were many good things to say about Sakura, her poker face was shit. Always had been. "You still think about him, don't you?"

"Yes," she admitted quietly, feeling that there was some victory in the fact that her stomach didn't hurt now when she talked about it, "but this isn't about him."

"Naruto being a moron again?"

Sakura smiled. "Naruto's _always_ a moron."

Tsunade was glad to see the light return to her apprentice's eyes; mentioning her blond teammate usually had that affect. At least the brat was good for something. "One of the many reasons why I wish _you_ were the one interested in taking the position as Hokage after me," she murmured. "He'll demand that there be a ramen stand on every corner when he gets in office."

"Sorry, but Naruto called it first."

They fell silent and began picking at their bento with only the soft clicking of chopsticks, the rustle of the leaves overhead as the breeze combed through them, and the distant chirping of birds and shouting of young Genin underlining the moment. Sakura took a slow breath and then spared a glance in Tsunade's direction. "Shishou?"

"Hm?"

"Do you still miss them? _Both_ of them, I mean?"

Sakura's words were vague, but her meaning was clear. Did she miss _them_; did she miss _her_ boys? Tsunade grimaced and wished that Shizune had brought a bottle of sake to go with lunch, to wash this horrible taste out of her mouth. "So much sometimes that it hurts to breathe, Sakura."

* * *

Given that there was always work to be done around the hospital, it was rare that anyone was sent home before the end of their assigned shift. So, Sakura began to worry when Tsunade instructed her to take the rest of the day off when they had finished their lunch. A vague, niggling feeling at the back of her mind made her want to take inventory of all of her medical supplies at home.

Home. She sighed. It had never been a tiring thought before, but now that she knew what could be waiting for her there made her feel like she usually did when she got up in the mornings to go to the hospital. Not to mention that Kakashi was probably still around.

No, scratch that. He _was_ still around and sleeping on her couch, sprawled out with Icha Icha opened over his face and his Ninken laying all around him. When they lifted their heads to acknowledge her, she placed a finger against her lips to quiet them. Kakashi's usual routine after a long mission included sleeping for days on end and there was no need to interfere with the process. In fact, it might all work to her advantage. Her kitchen was in shambles from what looked like an ill-fated attempt at breakfast, Bull was drooling on her favorite throw blanket, and Kakashi had obviously decided to settle in _here_ for his recovery period. At this rate, she'd never need to apologize for that morning.

"Hey, Sakura."

The girl turned toward the voice and smiled as Pakkun entered the kitchen behind her. "Hey, Pak—okay, you're bleeding."

He tipped his head to asses his wounded leg. "It ain't too bad."

"Hm, sounds like someone else I know," she muttered, eyeing the little, white bandage wrapped around the Pug's forelimb and wondering if Kakashi took care of all his dogs' wounds. Maybe at their insistence. Maybe they were all just as afraid to go to the doctor as him, which would only be fitting really.

"Well, I was hoping you'd take a look at it."

Sakura rolled her eyes and bent down to pick the little dog up and sat him down on the kitchen cupboard. "Stay."

He rolled his eyes in return and she smirked as she made her way to the laundry room, retrieving an antiseptic wipe and pair of small scissors. It was a painfully familiar routine. "So, you know that Hana would probably kill me if she knew I was treating you, right?" she called over her shoulder. "I mean, she'd be as offended about this as I'd be if she was treating humans at her veterinarian clinic… well, except for Kiba."

Pakkun huffed softly. "_You_ don't try to take my temperature."

Sakura paused as she reentered the kitchen. "Point to the Pug," she conceded with a smile as she sat her medical things down next to the dog. "So, since this looks fresh I'm guessing you didn't get hurt when you were out with Kakashi… oh, _Pakkun_."

"What?" he demanded.

"You're not still making passes at the Pomeranian that lives down the street, are you?" she asked with the same tone of voice she used when she scolded Ino about her romantic indiscretions. "You know she's got a thing going with one of the Inuzuka's dogs and he's only about, oh I don't know, three times your size."

Pakkun snorted. "Believe me, it didn't help him."

"I didn't think you were made for fighting."

"Brains always win out over brawn, Girly."

Sakura scowled as she began to cut away the bandage. She had the distinct feeling that he was leaving out a detail—like the fact that he almost always rode around on top of Bull's head and that Bull was roughly the size of a small horse. "Pakkun, you shouldn't interfere just because she's got eyes for another male."

"He isn't any good for her. There are rumors he's part wolf."

"You're being judgmental," she scolded in reply. "He might be really nice…" She trailed off as Pakkun began to waggle his paw at her as if making a point. She raised an eyebrow. "And what did you do to him?"

The Pug averted his gaze and Sakura detected a small victory… but then again she was arguing with a dog, so maybe there was no way for her to win here.

"What have you been up to, other than causing trouble for Kakashi-sensei and the Inuzuka clan?" she asked, dabbing away at the blood welling in the bite marks.

"Same-old, same-old," he replied. "Still bummed that they stopped making that shampoo I liked. What are you using now?"

Sakura shrugged. "Glam Jam," she said. She flicked her hair forward over her shoulder and leaned in a little. "Strawberry scented."

Pakkun sniffed experimentally at her and then hummed. "Not bad. But if I go around smelling like a fruit cocktail the other guys are going to laugh at me."

"They've got some herbal ones," she replied helpfully.

"Huh… I'll look into it. Thanks."

She smiled and pressed a glowing fingertip to his wound, letting her chakra flood the broken skin.

Pakkun watched her closely, his head tipped. "So, Kakashi hasn't been in town for a full twelve hours and you two are already fighting," he said.

"How do you figure?" she asked calmly.

"I can smell it."

"You can _not_."

"You were all uncomfortable when you came in and saw him. If you two aren't fighting, then what's going on?"

"It was just a… misunderstanding," Sakura replied with a huff. A small part of her couldn't believe how surreal this was: she was being interrogated by a _dog_. But then again that's just how her life went. Masked men, defected teammates, and talking dogs. Besides, it was always nice to talk to Pakkun. He was incredibly (read: disconcertingly) wise and insightful for being decidedly not human.

"What kind of misunderstanding?"

She sighed, releasing his foot when it was healed and then reaching to untie the forehead protector he wore around the top of his head. "The insecure twelve-year-old in me reared her ugly head this morning. You remember her, right?"

"Yeah," Pakkun said. "She had long hair too."

Sakura smiled faintly as she rubbed the dog's ears and tipped his head from side-to-side, checking for more broken skin. "Yeah, well she pops up every now and then when I feel sorry for myself. Kakashi was just teasing me and I took it the wrong way because… I don't know."

"You've been pretty busy from what I hear."

"That isn't an excuse. I don't see him for three months, he comes home, he _doesn't_ make me hunt him down to make sure he's okay, and I get all snippy with him because of something he didn't even _mean_."

"But I shouldn't have said it."

Sakura twitched, her shoulders tensed, and her fingers tightened slightly on Pakkun's ears. With an odd raising of hairs on the back of her neck, she turned to peek over her shoulder just to confirm that, yes, Kakashi was standing in the doorway and had apparently been for some time. Her eyes narrowed as she looked back to Pakkun. "You knew he was there, didn't you?"

Pakkun grinned and in a flash of brown fur, he slipped out of her hands and was out of the room. Sakura heaved a sigh and turned to face Kakashi. "Sleep well?" she asked cheerfully, knowing he wouldn't buy it.

His eye creased. "Yeah. Your couch is much more comfortable than mine."

"It helps that it hasn't been around longer than I have," Sakura replied, slipping off of her stool and approaching him. Before he could protest or really say anything at all she pressed two glowing hands into his chest. "I'm sorry I couldn't fully heal your ribs last night. You had that opened wound and so many of them were fractured…"

"It drained your chakra just doing what you did… which I find strange given how much you usually have stored. Didn't you sleep well the night before?"

"Hey, who's the medic here?"

Kakashi threw his hands up in mock-surrender. "I'm just worried about our little lady."

Sakura wanted to point out that that was so _not_ the nickname he wanted to use if he was trying to endear himself to her. It was what he and Naruto called her when they wanted to be especially annoying and condescending and dear God did it work. It ground on her every nerve, rubbing them raw until she couldn't help it and she found herself tempted to break her last Toss-the-Kyuubi-Vessel record.

"Sakura-chan."

She lifted her eyes to his again and took a breath. The words weren't there and they really didn't have to be. After seven years, after countless missions, she knew that look and that tone. "It's okay, Kakashi-sensei. We're good."

His eye creased in a familiar fashion and then he let his head fall back against the doorframe. "You healed Pakkun then?"

"Yeah. Tell him to stay away from the Pomeranian."

"Why? She's cute."

Sakura rolled her eyes and decided to change the subject. "So, I'm guessing since you've got all the boys here—" she glanced meaningfully into the living room at the dogs who had taken over her furniture—"you're planning on sticking around for a little while."

"I thought you could use the company."

"Uh-huh. You don't have any food at your apartment, do you?"

"Our little lady is so smart."

Sakura plucked out a patch of his chest hair in response and he jumped. "Going to need a dog house," she muttered.

"They can't all fit in one."

He said this with so much smugly feigned innocence in his voice that she couldn't help but pull out a few more hairs as she replied sweetly, "It wouldn't be for them."

Kakashi's eye twinkled in amusement and Sakura turned her focus back to healing him. _Now_, she thought, everything is back to normal.

* * *

1. Okay, I love you people. Like, lots. Lots and lots. By the way, I updated my profile; now with 100% more rant!

2. While I am tempted to go into a ranty bit about the beginning, I won't. I'd explain my reasoning for all of this and defend why Sakura isn't being a pansy for mourning Sasuke (I hate the little bastard), but I'm not going to. If you're very interested in my opinion, express such curiosity in your review and ye shall receive an answer.

3. Sakura and Tsunade make the most crazy-awesome big sister and little sister pair don't they? And I say big sister because Tsunade isn't what you'd call maternal about ninety percent of the time.

4. I'm a dog person (I have a Rottweiler and she's just the cuddliest thing in the whole-ahem!). This is the best excuse for why Pakkun gets so much screen time here. He's damn adorable. (Also, got to love Sakura lampshading her own annoying-ness. Lampshading is a term from TVTropes - Google it NOW!)

5. Next chapter will be more or less from Kakashi's point of view so that this can momentarily stop being so Sakura-centric. Let's see how badly I slaughter his character and then try to disguise it in the name of the mighty character development.

6. I weaponized my brother's chest and leg hair against him almost as soon as the first one sprouted. To those of my reviewers of the female persuasion with pesky males in their life, I pass this secret on.

7. Shhh... hear that? ... That's my weak-ass plot whining for some attention. Where's my mallet?

8. Did I mention that this story was probably going to be slow? Like slower than Molasses leaking out of a hairy... erm, you don't want me to finish that metaphor. But yeah, _slow_.

OMG as I write this it's raining and there's been a drought for God only knows how long and now I'm going to run out and splash in the puddles-PLEASE REVIEW!

**(In other words, I have no shirtless men to tempt you with this time. Review anyway please cause I loves you all, yes I do.)**


	4. In Which There is Dessert and Banter

**House Calls**

**Chapter 4**

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* * *

**

Kakashi was a private person. He kept the life that he had as a shinobi and the life he lived in his empty, little apartment separate. And it worked for him; quite nicely for a good, long time, he might add. But then a horrible thing happened.

Well, technically three horrible things happened, but the third had run off some time ago and the affect he had on the situation acted more as the backdrop for the other two horrible things to do their work. And they weren't nearly so passive. Hokages knew that _nothing_ was passive about Naruto. Or Sakura, for that matter (passive-aggressive didn't count).

Despite being the famed shinobi that he was, the Copy-nin couldn't quite pinpoint when the brats had infiltrated his life, but he figured he was well in over his head when he found himself lying around on Sakura's couch and not feeling particularly out of place or overwhelmed with the need to escape. He was reading, scratching Pakkun's ears, and listening to Naruto and Sai, who were seated behind him at the dinner table and dressed casually for a night out.

The situation was actually very… comfortable.

"You just can't, Sai! We've been over this a million times," Naruto objected, sounding rather exasperated, which was par for the course when talking to Sai.

"But what does it matter? Is a woman's perception of her self-worth tied to her body mass?"

Kakashi couldn't help but answer in unison with Naruto's much more empathic, "Yes!"

"If you want to compliment a girl, stick to telling her that her eyes are pretty or that you like her hair," Naruto instructed. "Weight is a touchy thing."

Sai huffed, still not understanding. "What if I compliment her _figure_?"

"You'll probably get slapped," Kakashi replied, turning a page in his book.

Sakura, as if summoned by Fate herself, stepped into view, wearing a thin, pink bathrobe. Every time she made an appearance she seemed to be just that much more put together. This time, her make-up was done, but her hair was still damp and splayed messily around her shoulders.

"Sakura." Sai turned to the girl as she was rooting around in her purse for something. Preemptively Naruto planted his face into the table and covered his head. "Your figure is delightfully svelte."

It was out of sheer, _morbid _curiosity that Kakashi glanced up from his book. Predictably, Sakura did not look impressed, but she did smile and rewarded the boy's efforts with an affectionately pinched cheek. "Nice try, Sai," she said before turning away, back toward her bedroom.

"I'm being sincere," Sai argued, looking rather confused.

She shrugged. "It sounds like a line."

"You always say that."

"I'm being sincere."

Sai scowled. "You're teasing me now, right?"

She grinned at him and pinched her fingers together. "A little."

With that, Sakura disappeared back into her bedroom and nudged the door closed with her foot. Kakashi smiled a little and returned to his book. He never participated in these little 'lessons'. He figured that he had tried his hand at teaching and it had ended in a spectacularly horrible way that would be discussed for _years_. As he had suspected upon being assigned a team of Genin the first go around, he was just not cut out to be an educator.

"Didn't help that you kinda pointed out that she's flat-chested," Naruto muttered.

"I did not."

"_Svelte_?"

"It means elegantly slender, dickless. _You're_ the one that just called her flat-chested." Sai snorted derisively. "I learned not to say that ages ago."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. It probably didn't help that he just didn't have Sakura's patience in that area.

Sakura. Patience. Those weren't two words he would've naturally strung together seven years ago to describe the girl. Back then, she hadn't been able muster enough will to tolerate _Naruto_. Sai, even with his improved understanding of human interaction, could be far worse than the loud-mouthed blond on any given day with half the effort.

But the former-ROOT member had come a long way since first joining the team. Still awkward, still ignorant in so many ways, but better and not given to quite so many fake smiles or insulting nicknames. Simple things still seemed to elude him, but he was perpetually curious and, luckily for him, Sakura was perpetually willing to explain.

Naruto jumped like a startled cat when the door was suddenly kicked open. A part of Kakashi—the part that was bitter and had become accustomed to expecting horrible things to happen—expected a cry of "Dynamic Entry!" to follow, but it didn't and for that he murmured a quiet thanks to the Hokages.

Instead, Ino stepped inside.

Scratch that.

Ino _stalked_ inside, her fists clenched and her teeth bared and the men present, all connected by the wonder of testosterone, pondered the words "cat fight". Or at least that was true for Naruto and Kakashi. Sai simply greeted Ino with a wave, a tip of his head, and a compliment about her womanly figure.

"Naruto, have you seen—_eek_!"

Kakashi cocked an eyebrow. The frightened squeak that came out of Sakura, who appeared for all of a second in the doorway of her bedroom before vanishing again at the sight of her rival, was positively feminine _and_ hilarious, if Naruto's giant grin was anything to go by. He'd undoubtedly razz her later for it.

"Forehead!"

Sakura's attempts to escape were half-hearted at best. She could barricade her door with a pinkie if she wanted, but Ino easily burst through and then slammed it shut behind her. What followed was the sound of shrieking laughter and the part of Kakashi—the part that had no qualms with picturing former students doing such things—contemplated a possible pillow fight.

Naruto turned to him once the laughter had quieted. "Kakashi-sensei, you sure you don't want to come with us tonight? It won't be just the Rookies. I think Kurenai and Iruka are coming."

"Ah, I would, but Sakura-chan ordered bed rest for me and she _is_ the medic."

Naruto scowled and cocked an eyebrow. "_Yeah_," he drawled, "because you _always_ listen to Sakura-chan when she tells you not to do something."

"He does if he wants to keep any of his chest hair."

Sakura appeared then, wearing a pale pink dress with a red shawl draped around her shoulders and her hair swept up in high ponytail. Kakashi would've been tempted to say she looked 'delicate', if this was not the girl who routinely punched straight through solid objects like trees and boulders with minimal effort; who was the cholericly-tempered student of a legendary and equally choleric kunoichi.

Kakashi blinked when he realized that Sakura was staring at him in return. "Something wrong, Sakura-chan?"

"Ah, no," she replied with a sheepish smile. "Pig, we should get going now! We'll be late meeting the others!"

"Don't take that tone," the blond snapped back as she appeared, flicking her hair and preening as she shrugged into a sweater. "We get here the other night, you've got a _situation_—" Kakashi noted the finger-quotes around this—"and then I don't hear anything from you about it. Then, when you do stop by, it's to ask _my dad_ to ask me to get hold of one of Shika's uniforms! I revoke your bossy privileges."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Just go."

Ino shrugged and then moved over to Naruto and Sai, grabbing them by a wrist each and dragging them out of their chairs. "Let's move, boys. Forehead will catch up in a minute."

"But—!" Naruto was cut off by a sharp tug on his arm and he and Sai vanished out of the door.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this and then looked back to Sakura. She smiled as she approached the couch. "So… we're alone," he began suggestively.

She laughed and dropped into the cushion beside him. "Indeed," she replied with a playful raise of her eyebrows. "I just wanted to talk to you about something."

"Shoot."

Sakura nodded, opened her mouth to explain, and then stopped short. She huffed irritably and pursed her lips in thought. Kakashi smiled faintly at this and her brow furrowed deeper at him "Okay," she started with a decisive sweep of her hand, "_So_, you recall when I told you to let the other guys know that I'd treat them if they came here?"

"I recall it."

"Well, they took me up on it. Now, I don't really like the idea of going out anyway, but Ino was super insistent about this because of… well, a thing the other night, but that's pretty irrelevant." She played with a charm bracelet dangling from one wrist. "I'm just worried about leaving because I don't know when someone might stop by."

Kakashi smiled at this. She really couldn't help it, could she? Worrying about everyone just seemed to come natural to the girl. "I see. By the way, you have blood on your tile grout in the kitchen."

She cringed. "Is it that noticeable?"

"By my age, you get to know blood stains on sight. Bleach helps."

"How strangely domestic of you," Sakura replied with a roll of her eyes. "What I'm saying—"

"I'll have Pakkun find you if anybody comes around," Kakashi cut in and the way she beamed at him made him smile a little wider. "Anything else?"

The girl hummed softly. "Don't worry about Shiba and Bisuke sleeping on my bed, they asked me if they could, help yourself to the leftovers in the fridge, and no porn on my television."

"Oh, c'mon," he protested. "I'm an ailing old man and you're taking away something that might make me feel better."

"Sorry, doctor's orders." Sakura jumped to her feet and reached out to pull the throw blanket off the back of the couch. He rolled his eyes when she began to tuck him in. "There you go, Jii-chan." She spared him a condescending pat on the head that reminded him of how he used to ruffle her hair. No wonder she hated it. "I'll be back later. Now don't stay up too much longer, old men like you need their rest."

She smiled at him and then swept her keys off the table and disappeared out the door.

"What are you laughing at?" Kakashi muttered, squinting at Pakkun in annoyance as the little dog chuckled.

"Nothing," the little Pug replied as he shook his head and settled back down. "Jii-chan. Heh."

* * *

The thoughts always seemed to sneak up on him. Like how Naruto and Sakura had wormed their way past his defenses and forced themselves into his life, these thoughts came unbidden, unasked for with no discernable point of origin. They were simply there one day about a month into his last mission, as if they were as natural as the grass growing from the earth.

In short, he had missed Sakura.

Yes, he had, in some small… _small_ way missed Naruto and Sai too, but he didn't think of either of them as often as he did the pink-haired medic. He didn't look forward to seeing them as much either. It was why he had stopped by her place first (well, that and his nearly-punctured lung, which Sakura had informed him of with a backhanded smack, something he found counter-productive to the healing process).

Kakashi chalked it all up to the fact that Sakura had become one of his closest friends in the last several years. This was aided greatly by the fact that she had made it a point, even more-so than Naruto, to butt-in on his life in ways that went beyond just being his doctor. But it was nice when she'd stop by his apartment to drop off a bag of groceries just to make sure he had _something_ around the house. It was nice when she stopped by sometimes _just_ to check on him. It was nice to know that she cared.

"Jii-chan, are you awake? I'm home."

Kakashi wandered out of the kitchen and propped himself against the doorframe as Sakura stepped through the front door with two take-out boxes tucked under her left arm and her shawl slouching low on her elbows.. She smiled when she saw him. "I thought I told you not to stay up late," she teased, kicking the door shut behind her. "People your age need their rest."

"You realize that when I called myself old you were supposed to jump to my defense and insist that I wasn't _that_ old," Kakashi replied, doing his best to pout with a mask in the way and one eye shut. His forehead protector had been abandoned somewhere in the living room.

Sakura shrugged easily. "Well, you are the more experienced of the two of us, so I thought I'd just trust your judgment on it." She smirked and then held the two carry-out boxes to him. "If you plan to be up for a while, you can keep me company while I enjoy my desserts."

"Hm, do I get any?"

She rolled her eyes. "You won't eat it in front of me anyway, so no."

Kakashi snorted as she placed the boxes lightly in his hands and then turned away toward her bedroom. "What'd you get?" he asked as he turned into the kitchen.

"Not sure," she replied. "It was some stuff the owner gave me."

"Which restaurant is this? Sounds like my kind of place." Kakashi was pleased when he sat both boxes down and then popped open the lid of one container to find slices of chocolate cake and what looked like some sort of pink cheesecake. "Are you friends with the guy or something?"

He heard Sakura's unladylike snort from the kitchen and it made him smirk. "Definitely _not_ friends. I stop there every once in a while with Ino and the other girls after my shifts at the hospital and the owner's gotten to be kind of sweet on me, I guess. Put that fork down, Kakashi. If you touch any of that, I'll break your arms and reset them backwards"

Kakashi, who was standing poised with a fork over the cake and a hand on his mask, frowned and glanced back at the doorway. Screw it. She'd never…

"Hatake Kakashi, I'm not kidding! You will be able to out-crabwalk everyone in the whole village."

He dropped the fork quickly to the cupboard and pouted at the sweets, which were surely taunting him now. "May I ask when you managed to develop the Byakugan?"

The only answer he received was in the form of light, feminine laughter. Not long afterward, Sakura appeared, raking her hair with one hand and pulling at the falling strap of her dress with the other. "Aw, how kind of you to not start without me," she gushed with saccharine sweetness.

"Yes, of course."

He watched her as she slipped around him to inspect her prizes and then seized her by the shoulders and leaned in over her. Sakura let out a startled snort of laughter. "What are you doing?" she demanded with her otherwise dangerous tone tempered by humor.

He picked through a few strands of cotton-candy colored hair. "Just checking for extra eyes."

Sakura swatted at him and he easily leaned out of her reach, smiling when she glanced back over her shoulder and stuck her tongue out at him. "I'm a ninja," she explained breezily. "I have skills."

"I have no doubt of that. I just question when Tsunade taught you how to see through walls."

She snatched the fork he had dropped off of the counter and twirled it deftly between her fingers as she hopped up onto the cupboard. "I'll never tell." She stabbed the cheesecake and took the first bite. What followed was a little salt-in-wound rubbing, with her making an overly dramatic show of pleasure at the taste that had him rolling his eyes. "So, how long as you going to be around?"

"Hm, hard to say. How long do I have to hang around before you give up and buy groceries for me?"

Sakura tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, I don't use my couch much, I like having the dogs around, and _you're_ housebroken, so there's no reason to kick you out right away." She grinned at him. "I guess we're just going to have to be roomies now."

"Guess so." Kakashi let himself slouch against the cupboard beside her.

"Terrific."

"Wonderful. I'll bring my stuff over tomorrow."

"Peachy. We'll work out a laundry schedule."

She took another bite of cheesecake and then smiled at him from around the mouthful. Kakashi found himself smiling back. He had probably missed this most _whenever_ he was away. After all, he didn't have this level of comfort with anyone else. In fact, if right then an arguing Naruto and Sai were at the breakfast table, it would've felt downright homey.

"Sakura-chan." She'd call foul play, but he was a ninja and since when were they required to play fair?

"Hm?"

He looked to her and when their eyes met he tipped his head slightly to the side and said, very simply, "Please?"

Sakura's expression went from intrigued to exasperated in mere seconds, her mouth pinched unattractively and her eyes narrowed. "_Fine_. I have a few things I need to get from the market tomorrow anyway," she spat out and it would've been rather contemptuous sounding if she wasn't hamming it up so much with the eye-rolling and lip-pursing. "I'll pick up some stuff for you."

"You're the best, Sakura-chan."

"You're only saying that because you'd _starve_ without me around."

"In my defense, Naruto and Sai are just as bad." It was a weak argument (as eloquent and mature as the ever popular "Did not!"), but it allowed him to use against her the one weakness she always bowed to: he was one of her boys. Sakura couldn't resist the urge to 'care' for anything in the world when it concerned people in general, but that protective streak seemed to run especially deep when it came to "her boys". In some respects, it was rather reminiscent of Tsunade and therefore frightening.

But, he had to admit, it was nice to be a part of that collective.

Sakura didn't make an attempt to argue further; she just rolled her eyes in response and took another bite of dessert. Then, frowning and squinting at him, she leaned forward. "I never checked your Sharingan," she muttered. Without anymore warning than that, she hooked a hand in his collar and pulled him closer.

Kakashi let himself be led. Sakura was _never_ off-duty and arguing didn't stem her determination to poke and prod him. Nor did fighting; it had been some time since he was physically stronger than her. And using the Sharingan was just out of the question. Out of the question because she had been keeping it in working order for nearly two years and that was a bit like biting the hand that fed him. Or healed him, rather.

"Tsunade could just look at it tomorrow," he offered.

"Tch, she's already studied the Sharingan," Sakura replied loftily. Her fingers pulled at his eyelids, up and then down, her eyes methodically searching for something that he had never been very clear on. "I haven't and recently she's let me poke through what remained of Kabuto's old notes. He did a lot of research on dojutsus and while I don't really want to think about how he acquired his research specimens, his conclusions were very impressive."

Kakashi quirked an eyebrow. "You sound delighted by that."

"It was fascinating."

"Kabuto? The same insane sadist—"

"Yes, yes I know." She waved him off and then placed her left hand to this temple, fingertips glowing as she did so. "But he was a genius. If he hadn't ended up such a rat bastard I might have gone to him for supplemental tutoring when Tsunade first took me on."

Kakashi decided not to answer and instead watched her lazily as she worked, her right hand coming to rest on his forehead with her fingers nestled in his hair. Her chakra burned a little as he felt it tracing a path through his system, but it was a familiar and almost comforting.

"I didn't use it much," he supplied just to break the silence.

She smiled. "I can tell." Her eyes were closed as she focused. "The nerves are only mildly inflamed. How's your vision?"

He shrugged. "It's all right. Not any worse, I guess." He paused and she pulled her hand away form his forehead, leaving the other at his temple as she pumped chakra into the irritated nerves. "Sakura, I know you want to find a way to fix this for me, but you don't need to. Even if it dies, I'll still have one good eye. Besides, once mine is gone the Sharingan will be dead for good and learning how to reverse the process of going irreversibly blind because of it won't serve anyone."

"Except maybe you if I can figure it out before the irreversibly blind part sets in." She cracked open one green eye to glower meaningfully and then slid it shut again. "And you're right; once this one is gone the Sharingan will just be a legend of the past. The mystery there will be dead, without a resolution. Do you know how _insane_ that'll make me?"

Kakashi grinned a little at this, at the way she bared her teeth at the thought. "Our Sakura, so greedy for knowledge, so eager to learn," he teased. He sobered almost immediately at his own words and her eyes opened, a small frown touching her lips as if she had sensed the change in him. "I wish I would have paid more attention to that when you were a Genin."

"You wouldn't have been able to teach me anything if I didn't think that it'd win Sasuke's undying affection," Sakura replied just as soberly. Her hand dropped to his shoulder, the glow at her fingertips fading. "Besides, you were handed the supposedly last Uchiha and the Kyuubi Vessel. I'd say your hands were full without the addition of an obnoxious twelve-year-old."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," he chided. "All three of you were obnoxious."

The girl let out a bark of laughter and lifted a bare foot to Kakashi's chest to push him away from her. "_Besides_," she began, smiling from ear-to-ear, "You don't know anything about being a medic. If I hadn't gone to Tsunade, I might have never found my place. Then God only knows where you and the boys would be by now. And by that I mean you'd be _so_ dead about a million times over."

He chuckled and nodded as he watched her take one last bite of cheesecake and then hop lightly off the counter. "Thank you," he said at length while she was putting the boxes into the fridge.

Sakura turned toward him and smiled while sucking the last bit of the dessert from her fork. "It's no problem, Kakashi-sensei." A pause as she tossed the utensil into the sink. "So, you're leaving tomorrow?"

"I'll probably be gone before you wake up."

"I figured. Are you on leave for the rest of the week?"

"It'll probably be two weeks if you and Tsunade have your way."

"_Good_. I'll be around to make sure you don't end up confined in your apartment with mold in your hair and your skin fused permanently to one of your dirty books."

"Aw, you _care_."

She laughed on her way out of the kitchen. "Good night, Kakashi-sensei."

"Good night, Sakura-chan."

* * *

1. Freakin'. Long. Also, Kakashi is damn hard to write.

2. Speaking of Kakashi, may I introduce you to snarky, less sullen and angst-filled Kakashi? He smells like leather and chocolate. (Why? For the same reason that people's kisses always seem to taste like strawberries in fanfiction.)

3. I also tried to limit pervvy-thoughts to a minimum right out of the gate.

4. Might I say that Sai is FUN to write? 'Cause he is. Naruto too actually. (On that note, I introduce you to a more subdued Naruto who is matured and well on his way to Hokage-dom.)

5. Jii-chan: Yeah, Sakura's calling him 'grandpa' (I hope I used the right term).

6. Enter Description of Mallet Assisted Plot Beating Here

7. I didn't include Japanese desserts because frankly none of the ones I read about sounded remotely appetizing.

8. It always seemed sort of weird to me that everyone always seems to think that Kakashi will go totally blind once his Sharingan craps out on him. Correct me if both my math and my basic understanding of the human body are totally wrong, but he'd still have one good eye, right? Even if the totally blind thing is canon, that doesn't make much sense to me. Like. At all. (My urge to babble about all of the ophthalmology gibberish I just learned from Wiki is really intense. But I shall refrain.)

9. Kabuto not being a rat bastard and tutoring Sakura. There's a crack plot for you. (Mmm, crack. ... DON'T JUDGE ME!)

10. Have I said yet how much I love you guys? Cause I do. Lots.

Now I'm officially rambling.

**Please review cause it's (August 17th) my birthday!**


	5. In Which There is Medical Jargon

**House Calls**

**Chapter 5**

**

* * *

**

"Sakura."

It said… well, it said _a lot_ about Sakura's life that it wasn't entirely startling to be woken up in the middle of the night by a man holding a kunai. This was especially true if that man was Hatake Kakashi.

"Sakura." His hand was on her shoulder, shaking her gently.

She groaned in response, but as her faculties began returning to her with the sleep clearing from her mind, the girl finally picked up on the vaguely metallic odor wafting from the man and her eyes shot open. _Blood_. "What's going on?"

"You're being paged, Doctor. Or however you say it."

Sakura was out of bed in a second and rushing in the living room after Kakashi as she struggled into her robe. The lights were on and the scent of blood was heavy in the air. Her eyes widened slightly at the two figures in the kitchen, both slumping against the cupboards with their porcelain masks stained with mud.

"They're fine," Kakashi told her, motioning her forward. "Your main problems are in here."

She followed him to the laundry room and paused in the doorway as her eyes worked the situation over. A badly broken arm slumped against the far wall, a bloody mess of a torso was leaning beside the doorframe and trying to stop his own bleeding with a folded towel pressed to him, and, the coup de grace, a head injury complete with a bloodied and badly bandaged brow was lying unconscious on the cot.

"Hope you don't mind playing nurse, Kakashi-sensei," she said, pulling a hair-tie from her robe pocket.

"Not exactly the role I always pictured myself taking, but I can improvise," he replied smoothly.

She smiled at him and then took a breath. "The painkiller's over there in the bottom drawer with blue caps and there are syringes in the top drawer. Give Mr. Broken Radius and Mr. Belly Wound thirty milliliters each while I figure out just how bad this guy on the cot is."

Kakashi gave her a mock salute and then set to work as she moved to the head-injury's side and gently removed his mask (thank the Hokages it was no one she knew personally although she ached all the same for him). She glanced to her "nurse" next and smiled at the way he had one plastic-wrapped syringe clutched in his teeth as he filled the other with the solution from a vial.

If someone asked Sakura to give her opinion on Hatake Kakashi, the first words out of her mouth would be "he has an impressive porn collection" followed closely by, "Yes, he _really_ is a genius and, no, I don't believe it either sometimes."

At first, it had been a means to pass time while they were on a horrendously long and tedious mission staking out a smuggling ring. An incident with a river not marked on their map earlier that day had done away with his copy of Icha Icha and ensured that whoever had gathered intelligence for their mission out would suffer terribly. So out of absolute boredom, while she was organizing her med-packs, he asked her, "What does _that_ do?"

Surely it had been to annoy her—an attempt on his part to _be_ the petulant child he felt like with his precious book destroyed—but what had followed was a basic lesson on stitching wounds (when healing with chakra was out of the question). Kakashi's curiosity was piqued as anything that might help him avoid the hospital was curious indeed.

From there, Sakura found herself explaining how to administer drugs subcutaneously and how to _correctly_ remove an IV so that the next time he attempted to do so while at the hospital, he didn't hurt himself in the process. They went over pain medications, what roots could be used as antibiotics, and how to stop a wound from bleeding without damage anything. It had actually been rather cool to be the teacher for once, showing Kakashi something he _didn't_ know. Of course the jerk was a genius and picked it all up immediately, but that was irrelevant.

"How is he?" Kakashi asked as he rolled up Belly-Wound's sleeve. When first treating him a long time ago, she had decided that ANBU tattoos were rather handy when it came to giving injections. They were almost like a bulls-eye.

"Basilar skull fracture," she replied, biting her lip. "Looks like some inter-cranial bleeding too… an epidural hematoma? Crap."

He spared her a short glance over his shoulder. "I know _you _think you're being clear…"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's bleeding inside his skull and the build-up of blood is putting pressure on his brain. I can heal the vessels to stop the bleed, but the blood has to be drained and quickly before any permanent damage is done."

"How?"

"… Have you ever seen a hole cut into someone's head before?"

* * *

Kakashi knew that these weren't exactly the wounds that Sakura had envisioned treating when they had had that little talk those months ago. No doubt she had pictured relatively minor wounds—shallow stab wounds, broken knuckles and wrists, concussions. In fact, it was probably very safe to assume that neurosurgery hadn't been on the agenda.

But Sakura was _clearly_ in her element as she began. With a blade of blue-tinted chakra focused at her fingertip, she cut into the skull and then, when that was done, blue chakra turned green and began to gently draw the blood out while she began to heal the damaged blood vessels with her other hand. The stomach wound and broken arm were mere child's play following this and the whole time Kakashi could only sit back and watch in a combination of admiration and pride.

If anyone had told him seven years ago that the pretty little girl assigned to him would someday become this woman in front of him, he'd of probably started wondering what sort of genjutsu they were under the influence of. Because Sakura had been smart, no doubt, but she hadn't seemed to want anything but to become Mrs. Uchiha. Surpassing Tsunade, becoming one of the youngest and most knowledgeable medical ninja, and the most skilled kunoichi of her generation? None of those had been on her priority list.

Sometime later, after everything had quieted down, Sakura stepped out of the guest room, pulling the door shut behind her with one hand and her hair free of its tie with the other. The head injury had been carted off to the hospital by medic-nins brought to them by Pakkun, who had raced off at Kakashi's command. They covered the body with a sheet, as if removing a body in order to conceal the fact that the operative was ANBU, and the other four were forced to stay and rest (although two of them were still doped on painkillers and wouldn't have known the difference).

"You were great." Kakashi was on the couch, watching the girl carefully as she raked her hair with her fingers and pulled at the neck of her robe. "I mean it."

"Thanks."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the bashful way she looked down at her feet. "You don't believe me?"

"You don't give compliments if you don't mean them, sensei," she replied with a shrug and a small smile. "But I really was just doing my job."

"And you're great at your job."

Her smile widened slightly at this insistence and she slumped down onto the couch beside him, running her hands through her hair. "Thank you," she said again, this time more firmly as she met his eyes. Her skin had a peculiar glow and there was a strong, satisfied air that surrounded her, settling somewhere in her eyes, which were unusually bright for it approaching five in the morning. She looked like a lioness after a successful hunt.

"So… I'm guessing this was not the first time ANBU showed up. You didn't act surprised to see them."

"I wasn't. The night before you arrived, Genma's team showed up and I put his shoulder back together. That's what Ino was so crabby about. It sort of freaked her out."

"Ah, that's why your chakra was so depleted when I came around."

Sakura nodded and then let her head rest back against the couch, her eyes closing tiredly. "The night before that a team came in with a guy with a chest wound."

Kakashi hummed at this, not sure what to say, but recognizing the feeling pooling in his gut immediately as guilt. "I wouldn't have said anything to anyone if I'd of known it'd be this much trouble for you."

"It was my idea to do this. I don't mind."

"You're not sleeping."

"I sleep. This has just been a rough week," she argued. She cracked open an eye to give him a particular sleepy and therefore not-so-effective glare. "I really don't mind so stop worrying. Besides, it's your fault that this is necessary."

Kakashi blinked at her. "Excuse me?"

Sakura sat up a little, rolling her head forward to give him a cross look. "All of you older guys passed your worst habits onto _my_ generation of blockheads. You and Asuma refusing to go to the hospital has warped Naruto and Shikamaru. Gai's at fault too with all of his talk of hard work. He's embedded that into Lee _and _Neji's skulls over the years and now they seem to be in competition about who can complete the most missions this year. Gai has joined them to challenge his youthfulness. and Tenten's had to drag them all in here at least twice this month."

"Well, that isn't fair."

"It's totally fair! The boys always looked up to you guys; you should've set a better example."

"I meant about putting Gai and I in the same category."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him and a comfortable silence fell between them..

Kakashi studied her for a long moment, taking in her eyes and the messy splay of her hair around her shoulders. For not the first time, he found himself admiring just how pretty she was. She had always been _unique_ certainly—her unusual coloring earned her compliments nearly everywhere they went—but there was a certain refinement to her features now that they had lacked in the past.

It made him seriously question whether or not any of her other patients were truly afraid of the hospital. For him and the other, older Jonins the hospital would never be anything but the place where ninja went to die. Before its modernization, before the techniques were mastered by more than a mere handful of medics, it was a glorified deathbed and a place to be avoided at all costs.

Nowadays, the injured only had to weigh a highly sophisticated, sterile environment against the private attentions of a very pretty girl.

"What are you grinning about?"

Kakashi chuckled as he settled comfortably back against the couch. "I just… had a thought."

"Given your 'hobbies', I'm tempted to smack you just to be on the safe side," Sakura scoffed. She got to her feet and straightened her robe. "But I'm too tired. Once again: good night, Kakashi-sensei."

He glanced at her and met her smile with an eye-crease. The familiarity of the routine was always something like a comfort in itself. "Good night, Sakura-chan."

* * *

"Shishou, do you have a minute?"

Tsunade glanced up as Sakura stepped through the office doors. "Just as long as you can talk fast. I'm swamped with paperwork today and I can't put it off."

Sakura nodded as she approached the desk. "This won't take more than a few minutes, I promise. Did you get my reports?"

"Yes and you need to stop writing them so late at night when your handwriting is barely legible. I thought I was reading some kind of code," Tsunade replied with her brow pinched together as she pulled the file from the bottom of a towering stack without disturbing anything else. She flipped it open casually. "So, more ANBU guys, huh?"

"Said in all innocence."

A pale eyebrow lifted in question. "What does that mean?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You know what it means, Shishou. You let me take the rest of the day off yesterday because you knew they'd be in that night."

"Well, to be fair I thought they'd be in before nightfall, but it seems that they were having some trouble." The corner of Tsunade's lips pulled up a little as she rubbed her forehead. She tapped the report and spared her apprentice a wryly amused look. "Is this right?"

"What does it say?"

"You performed a craniotomy on this guy with the head wound?"

Sakura folded her arms and shrugged. "That's right."

"By yourself?"

"To be fair, Kakashi was around, but he didn't do anything but watch and monitor the guy's vitals for me."

That faint twitch of Tsunade's lip turned into a full smirk. She lifted an arm to prop her elbow on her desk and then placed her chin gently in her palm, her gaze focused on Sakura.

Silence.

Sakura shifted awkwardly. "I did what you would have done," she said insistently, to break the silence.

Tsunade nodded. "But most would have hesitated to act so quickly outside of a hospital environment."

"Most people couldn't perform that kind of surgery outside of a hospital environment."

"Very true." The Godaime smiled. "Except for Shizune, me, and you."

The compliment threw Sakura off for a moment, making her uneasy. Feeling awkward, she tried to wait Tsunade out for her next response, but after several minutes found the quiet and the woman's intent stare too oppressive. "Shishou?" The girl scowled a little at her mentor, pursing her lips in annoyance. "What are you staring at?"

The blond lifted a brow. "Hm? Oh, I'm just basking."

"… _In_?"

"Well, I always like to take a moment to admire my handiwork when I'm able to." Her smile widened a little more. "You were a lot of work, Haruno, and I had my doubts in the beginning, but more and more you've convinced me that it was all worth it. I took a directionless little girl and made her into a kunoichi."

Sakura snorted at this, but couldn't help the way her chest clenched at the rare show of emotion. Tsunade wasn't an overly expressive person and she rarely praised anyone for any reason, so hearing her say something like that and seeing the look on her face made Sakura glow all over. "Thank you, Shishou."

"Yes, well fact is fact." The façade of indifference returned and it made the pink-haired girl smile all the wider. Amber eyes narrowed fractionally. "You have rounds to get to, don't you?"

"I have one more question."

"What's that?"

"Why did you give ANBU permission to see me?"

Tsunade's stare fell to her desk and she sat back in her chair, looking uncomfortable. "You should get back to work."

"If you don't tell me, I won't treat them anymore."

"We both know that's a lie."

Sakura huffed softly and hugged herself a little tighter. "ANBU has always confused me. _Jonin_ can take S-rank missions, so it isn't necessarily the difficulty that warrants their involvement and even if that was the case… what are the masks and codenames for?" She narrowed her eyes slightly and met Tsunade's. "So, what they do must not be… ethical? Legal?"

A muscle in the Hokage's jaw tightened as if annoyed, but after a long moment, she simply nodded. "The council prefers to call it 'dirty business'. As a shinobi, you do a lot of good things through undesirable methods, but things like politics—peace treaties, rules of engagement, alliances—sometimes stand in the way. The purpose of ANBU is to ignore those things for the better of the greater good."

Well, it was good to know that she was right. That was good enough. She wouldn't think too hard about it anymore. She wouldn't wonder why it was that the council felt they were entitled to do such things. She wouldn't wonder what Kakashi had done in the past. She wouldn't wonder what kind of things some of her friends might have been through in the name of the 'greater good'. "That's why they go so far to protect their indentities. But why send them to me? My house isn't exactly a secure facility."

"The hospital is a public place," Tsunade began. "All kinds of people travel through those doors on an everyday basis; civilians, shinobi, foreign dignitaries and diplomats interested in our methods. ANBU operatives in the hospital means that something, somewhere has happened and that makes those last two types of people particularly nervous. As for civilians… well, it's just better that they go on with their lives believing that ANBU are the guys we let out when things get really ugly."

Sakura nodded slowly. Seriously, she wasn't wondering if she knew anyone in ANBU—Shikamaru and Neji jumped to the forefront of her mind—and she resolved that she wouldn't let her curiosity run away with her. She wouldn't ask Kakashi. She wouldn't wheedle information out of Sai with his favorite food. No, she wouldn't.

"Sakura."

"Hm?"

Tsunade leveled her stare upon the girl, her arms folded on the desk. "I'm telling you this because I think you deserve to know if you're going to be treating these guys. And you're treating them because I know I can trust you."

Sakura smiled as she lifted her eyes from the floor. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama."

* * *

"What's the matter, Sakura-chan? You're being really quiet."

Sakura hummed and shifted a little, tightening her grip on Naruto's neck and hooking her chin over his shoulder. He was carrying her piggyback through the village streets as they made their way to lunch at Ichiraku Ramen. It was a habit from their younger years that they had never quite managed to give up. Besides, for Sakura, the temptation to run up from behind and then tackle the legendary ninja and possible-future-Hokage was too great at times. She was only mortal after all. The only thing more entertaining was doing the same to Sai.

"Just thinking."

Naruto laughed as he hitched her up a little higher. "Really? What is that big brain of yours working overtime on?"

Sakura smiled and dusted the palm of her hand against the back of his head in gentle reprimand. "Nothing," she replied. "Do you want to go to the Spring Festival with me and Sai?"

"Sure!" He was beaming from ear-to-ear—she didn't even have to look at him to know it. "You asked Sai already?"

"Actually, he brought it up about a month ago because he wanted to make sure I had the right clothes." She laughed. "I'm glad he likes festivals so much. And it isn't so embarrassing going with him now that he's kind of sort of approaching normal."

Naruto nodded, but then his expression fell a little. "I wonder if we could get Kakashi-sensei to come with us."

Sakura sobered too. "I don't know," she murmured. "It's the same day as his 'dark day' this year."

Finger quotes were in full effect here and the blond boy snorted in amusement. "I know. I just wish we knew what made it so damn dark."

"Same here." She smiled slightly because she knew that Naruto's curiosity was born out of deep concern. "It's his business. But it can't hurt to ask him, right? If he doesn't want to come he'll feed us a lame excuse like having to shampoo his silverware and then disappear before we can argue with him. No big deal."

"What if _you_ asked him to the festival?"

"As opposed to all three of us? Why?"

Naruto shrugged, jostling her around a little. "I think you know him better than Sai or me. Well, definitely better than Sai, but, yeah, more than me too. He might say yes if it's just you."

Sakura frowned, tipping her head a little to give him a scrutinizing stare. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, you've got a key to his apartment. I don't and Sai doesn't. You're the first person he goes to see when he gets back from missions and you two talk all the time." Naruto shrugged again. "It just seems like you're closer to him."

Sakura blinked. Since when had _that_ happened? "Well, I don't know any more about him than you or Sai," she defended. "But… maybe I'm closer. I don't know; I never thought about it."

"Hey, it's probably a good thing. Kakashi-sensei is always so alone all the time, you know?" Naruto paused and then chuckled. "You two are a lot alike anyway."

She cocked an eyebrow at him and pushed herself up with her hands planted firmly on his shoulders so she could stare down at him. "I'm a mask-wearing, porn-reading hermit?" she asked.

Perhaps more than anyone else, Naruto knew what it meant to be on the receiving end of one of Sakura's "love taps". But, rather than cowering at not only being well within reach, but also carrying the girl on his back, he just grinned at her and tipped his head back to look her in the eye, his stride never breaking. "I don't know about the first two, but the shoe fits on that last one. You only ever go anywhere if it's the Rookies meeting up together or if it's a mission."

"I'm not really a party person, you know that." She huffed and settled back down.

"Well yeah, I know. There isn't anything wrong with it either—if you're still going out with me, that's fine. I'm just saying that that's probably why you and Kakashi get along. You're… low-key."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Maybe we've taken that role out of self-defense. You're anything _but_."

Naruto grinned. "That's why we work! So you'll ask him about the festival? It'd be cool if we could do something together as a team that doesn't include an assassination or bodyguard duty."

She smiled at this and nodded. "Yeah, I'll ask. Oh and Sai and I want to go in traditional clothes."

"Aw, c'mon! I hate getting all dressed up!"

"Sorry, but you've been out-voted!"

* * *

1. Oh thank God, this chapter is a more manageable size. To make up for that, here are some extra-long notes!

2. No seriously, the others were just too long. I'm going to spoil you people!

3. And from here on out the notes will be totally serious. ... For serious.

4. Seriously.

5. ... So I imagine Sakura would only arm Kakashi with medical knowledge knowing that it's a safer route than assuming he'd STOP ripping out his own IVs. Plus, I figured he'd have to be of some use in this scene rather than just sitting there twiddling his thumbs (and given how protective he is of his teammates, I think he'd find the medical know-how rather handy). And ANBU tattoos are, as far as I can tell, positioned in the right area to be a sort of X-marks-the-spot for a subcutaneous injection.

6. How do you like my medical jargon? That was an hour on Wikipedia to bring you people a believable-sounding scene. Oh and why? Because no one is going to be kicking much ass in this story (it's a Romantic Comedy-adventure and action have no say here because I suck at them) and Sakura needs to be awesome somehow. People usually dismiss medics as just being medics, but I think that kind of thing is it's own form of being absolutely badass.

7. I kind of hate this chapter. It wasn't as good as the others in my opinion, but that's because it was written in infirmity (and while I was on vacation, so you get a twofold excuse there). So forgive misspellings, nonsensical details, and other flubs.

8. The Sakura-Tsunade scene was just me ruthlessly beating down that possible plot point introduced in the first chapter. Really, I thought about ANBU playing a huge role in this, but then I decided that I wanted to just focus on the Sakura/Kakashi relationship rather than dragging a true, in-depth plot into this mess. So this is my way of cutting that dangling thread. (Besides, I have about a billion reasons for why Sakura would never become a medic in ANBU, which I won't go into here.) Also, I kind of wanted to explain my view on what ANBU does and why it annoys me when people mention it so cavalierly in other fics.

9. Is that a bird? A plane? No it's my back-up plot entering from stage left, screaming and waving its arms everywhere! A festival. Yeah, I went there. I'm going to wring another drop of usefulness out of that old cliche. Prepare yourselves! There will be FLUFF!

10. All of the above insanity should be excused by the fact that I've been doped on pain-medications for the last four days in order to stifle a crippling migraine that's reduced my ability to speak and reason to nothing.

Now that that's over with I need to think of something witty to say in closing.

...

...

OH!

Review and Gaara might make an appearance in later chapters!** (He will whether you review or not, but do it anyway! Now I'm off to the doctor.)**


	6. In Which There is Contemplation

**House Calls**

**Chapter 6**

**

* * *

**

"Huh, doesn't look like he's home," Naruto said as he carried Sakura into Kakashi's apartment. The copy-nin had reluctantly given Sakura a key some time back when he had been bedridden with the flu and he had never gotten around to taking it away. After all, the key was just a formality. It was the seal on the door jamb that would really keep people out and only after Naruto had been paralyzed by it did Kakashi arrange for it to recognize his teammates' chakra.

"He's on leave, so he's got to be around," Sakura replied as she dropped to her feet.

While Naruto sat the grocery bags down, she approached the open bedroom door and peeked inside. Sure enough, the legendary ninja was sprawled out on his bed, hanging partially off of one side. She pressed a finger to her lip to shush Naruto. It was still Kakashi's recovery period and—

An evil grin suddenly curled over the blond's whiskered face and before Sakura could stop him, he charged the bedroom door and drop-kicked it open with a gleeful bellow of, "Dynamic Entry!" The door promptly crashed into the wall it was mounted on and Sakura couldn't decide if she wanted to yell at him or collapse to the floor in uncontrollable laughter.

Inside the room, somewhere between jumping awake and falling off the bed, Kakashi threw a kunai that whizzed by the blonde's ear and embedded itself in the living room wall. It of course missed because the possible-future-Hokage (words that, at times like this, really worried Sakura) was doubled over in laughter. Kakashi scowled from the floor, promising that all would be repaid in the near future with the look.

Sakura stepped into the room, sweeping discarded shirts and pants away with her foot as she went. "We brought you some ramen," she announced, as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred because, well, nothing really had. Besides, if Kakashi was awake now he might as well get up.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," the man sighed as he crawled back into bed and then buried his head under a pillow.

"Kakashi-sensei, I know you're still recouping from the mission, but you should probably get up now that you're awake. It isn't good to spend so much time in bed."

The muffled response she received sounded a little like, "Who says?"

A slender, pink eyebrow lifted at that and, because Sakura was nothing if not totally more mature than him and completely professional, she grabbed the edge of his mattress and hefted it up easily, acquainting Kakashi with the floor once again. "Me," she replied sweetly. She dropped the mattress onto the box spring again and dusted off her hands. "Now come out to the kitchen and eat something."

On her way to the door, she made sure to grab the giggling Naruto by his collar and lead him out. His laughter abated slightly as they reached the kitchen. "He's so not going to the festival with us now," he said, sounding rather pleased with himself nonetheless.

"I'm not the one that made him think Gai had found a way into his apartment," Sakura replied. "He might come and just make certain to make your life hell later."

"You're the one who threw him out of bed."

"Oh he's used to that. I do it at least once a week."

Naruto grinned as he shook his head and slid his hands into his pockets. After a moment he sighed. "Well, that was fun," he said. "But I should get going now. I've got a meeting with the Hyuuga clan elders."

"Oh?" Sakura lifted her brows at him. "Why's that?"

He shrugged, folding his arms behind his head. "Tsunade-baachan said I had to; something about diplomatic relations and endearing myself to the influential shinobi families to better my chances at becoming Hokage. I don't get what she's so worried about. There's no doubt that I'm in!" He grinned, but it quickly turned sly as stepped up behind Sakura, who was busying herself with unpacking the groceries. "Although, I really don't want to go alone and you're better at this diplomacy thing that me…"

"No chance."

Naruto pouted as Sakura easily blocked his arm from wrapping around her shoulders. "C'mon, Sakura-chan! These meetings are always so boring!"

"Hey, I'm not the one who wants to be Hokage and if Tsunade can be believed, being bored is a huge part of it," she replied. "You can think of this as training."

The pout remained.

"Besides," she began leadingly. "Hinata will be there, won't she?"

"Well, yeah," he muttered. "She's the head of clan, she's gotta be there, but I always feel so weird around her."

Sakura scowled. "Naruto, that isn't nice!"

"I don't mean like that!" the boy protested, throwing his hands up to protect his head from all incoming assaults. "I just… I don't know." A pale pink blush crossed his cheeks as he raked both hands back through his hair. "She's gotten to be so pretty now and she's always so calm and nice and I'm used to _you_."

With his hands in positioned to block her, Sakura did the next best thing to smacking him in the head and poked him squarely in the belly-button. His howl of protest was very satisfying. "I didn't mean it like that either!" he whined.

"Consider that from me too."

Naruto, while holding his stomach, and Sakura, while standing with her hands on her hips, both looked to their former sensei. "How are you feeling?" the girl asked as Naruto grumbled quietly about a lack of empathy for teammates, how they were both going to get D-rank missions and only D-rank missions when he became Hokage, and empty threats about poking them and seeing how they liked it.

Kakashi regarded with a particularly tired and droopy eye. "Like someone just dropped me on the floor."

"Hm, well that's to be expected in a man your age. The muscles and bones just aren't quite what they used to be when you get old," she replied with a grin, which faded as she added, "Oh Naruto, quit being such a baby!"

"I'm not being a baby; it hurts when you do that!"

Sakura heaved a sigh and lifted one hand to his shoulder as she slipped the other under his arms, which were protectively hugging his middle. Her palm settled over his stomach and began to glow with cool green chakra to soothe the nerves. "Kakashi-sensei, the ramen's in that bag there on the table. I also got your groceries; the cereal you like, milk, fruit, and a few vegetables that I know you won't eat."

"My favorite," Kakashi deadpanned in reply as he slumped into a chair. However, when Sakura looked to him, ready to berate him for being an ingrate, he offered her a happy crease of his eye to show his subtle, more sincere appreciation. Despite herself, she smiled back.

Eventually, Naruto's muttering quieted and he straightened. Sakura pulled her hand away from him and while it found its way onto her hip, the other lingered on his shoulder. "There," she said. "Better now?"

"Much and I accept your apology," he replied sarcastically. He smiled when she made to pinch him through his coat. "I should get going now. I'll say hello to Hinata for you, okay?"

Sakura nodded but then grabbed him by the collar in order to pull him down to her height and press a kiss to his cheek. "Be good," she said in a tone that left no need for the words "or else" to be spoken. "Make a good impression and _don't_ embarrass Hinata. I'm looking forward to a Hokage who I can push around and the Hyuuga clan's approval is important."

He laughed. "You got it! Later, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi waved in response and Naruto bounded out, slamming the door shut behind him. "So," the copy-nin drawled as Sakura began to put the groceries away, "when Tsunade retires, we're voting for him?"

"Yes," Sakura replied. "Why?"

"Just making sure that we haven't come to our senses or anything."

She snorted. "We love Naruto and we're standing behind him because he's our friend and it's his dream. You know he'll be a great Hokage."

Kakashi nodded and lifted his hands in a show of surrender. "He will, I know."

"Besides, if he doesn't do it, _you're_ the next candidate."

"An excellent point," he answered. "Naruto will be a great and wise leader and I intend to support him in every way possible."

Sakura nodded firmly and then spared him a quick look over her shoulder. "You know," she began slowly, "the Spring Festival's in a week."

"Is it? Interesting. Will you pour some cereal for me?"

"You can't?" she demanded. She knew that this wasn't the time to let him distract her from her goal (which was probably his every intention), but sometimes it baffled her how this man functioned on his own when he was such a child. Pour him cereal? What was he? Three-years-old?

To prove her point, Kakashi stretched a hand out pathetically toward the cupboard where the cereal and milk sat, grunting in strain as he grasped fruitlessly at air.

Sakura rolled her eyes at the display. "It _amazes_ me sometimes that you're in your thirties."

"Please? I don't want ramen."

"Fine, but only if you eat it in front of me. You know, without the mask."

Kakashi squinted at her. "That isn't fair."

"_Good_."

"How about you just pour me some cereal because you love me and I'm your friend and then leave because you respect my life choices?"

Sakura huffed indignantly. "You know, I have other man-children to tend to. Sai said something about yesterday wanting me to come over."

"…_Why?"_

"Because some people—even Sai—like to see me even when they're _not_ dying," Sakura replied flatly. For a reason she'd never be able to discern, she pulled a bowl out of a cupboard and spoon from a drawer and then grabbed the milk and cereal. Unceremoniously, she dropped everything onto the table in front of her ex-sensei. "So, what about the festival?"

"So, what about Sai? I remember when you couldn't stand him. Our little lady has grown up so much."

"_Kakashi-sensei_."

Kakashi pointed to the door with his spoon as he pried the cereal box open. "Sai's waiting."

"Kakashi, come with us to the festival."

"I'm busy that day, Sakura."

"Well that's convenient, because the festival is at night."

He ignored her as he poured a bowl of the sugared and frosted flakes, which were barely recognizable as any kind of grain. Sakura had felt a little dirty just buying the stuff. "It isn't very attractive when you're like this," he said at length, in response to the hole she was attempting to burn into his forehead with her glare.

Okay, so he wasn't going to be an adult about this. Fine. Sakura snatched up the milk carton when he reached for it and hid it behind her back. "See, if you would just take that mask off, I'd be able to see that dirty look you're giving me," she teased, waggling a finger at him. "Why won't you come to the festival with us?"

"I'm busy," he answered, propping his cheek on his palm boredly. "You know that. I think you and Naruto call it my 'dark day'."

She shrugged. "Well that's just because 'Kakashi's day of wallowing in self-pity for no apparent reason' was too much of a mouthful. We're dressing up this year. You'll get to laugh at the boys as they stumble around in geta and I'm getting a new kimono."

"Can I have my milk?"

"There'll be sake."

"I'd really just like the milk."

"You're impossible."

"I have a bowl of dry cereal in front of me. A man's being impossible if he wants some milk to go with it?"

Sakura huffed irritably and planted one hand on her hip. "I'm asking you because I love you and you're my friend. I worry about you, which is totally founded given your track record so don't even bother telling me not to, and I don't like the idea of you moping around an apartment for twenty-four hours while the rest of the village is having a good time. I want you to come because I think you might actually enjoy yourself and it'd be nice to have you around." She took a breath. "Now, after hearing all of that, will you come to the festival with me?"

"There's a rabbit I promised to escort home that night. I really can't."

If there was one thing that Sakura had learned over the years, it was how to accept a loss. Thankfully, nothing said she had to do so gracefully. "Fine," she said with a shrug. "It was a long shot anyway. I'm off to Sai's."

"Sakura-chan, you're not mad are you?"

"Not at all," she replied sweetly on her way to the front door.

Totally more mature and so not twelve-years-old anymore; taking the milk with her was just an accident. Seriously.

* * *

Sometimes Sakura wondered if she mothered the boys because that was her way or if she mothered them because they gave her no choice. For instance, Sai counted as her second wake-up call of the day. When she arrived, he was sleeping in the window with his sketchpad in his lap and his head tucked awkwardly against his knees. It was rather cute, she thought, until he had heard her come in and snapped to attention. His neck had popped so loudly that it almost seemed to echo in the otherwise silent apartment and she cringed.

"Sai, do you want me to make you something to eat?" she called from where she was seated on his futon, sorting through the numerous discarded sketches that lay every where. Their numbers easily tallied in the hundreds.

There was a negative-sounding response from the bathroom, muffled by the sound of the running shower. Probably a jab at her cooking, but Sakura ignored him and focused on the sketchpad in her lap.

Sai didn't have much to envy. He was doing very well adjusting to life outside of ROOT, but there were still so many things that still escaped his grasp and he lived such a lonely life when she and Naruto weren't around. Sure, Kakashi lived in a similarly depressing apartment, but he at least had his dogs. Sai only had his art and that was what she coveted; his ability to create.

And even though he would likely never grasp the significance or feel the very base human pleasure one felt at having something someone else didn't as far as talent went, Sakura felt oddly happy for him. Whether he knew it or not, he had something that was envied even if it was just by her.

"Sai?"

"Hm?"

"Why did you have to sleep so late? It's nearly three in the afternoon."

"I didn't sleep last night."

Well, of course.

She hummed and turned a page. The drawings were all in ink or pencil—always black on white—and for the better part, they were all of her, Naruto, and Kakashi: Naruto mid-pushup, Kakashi performing a back-flip, her posed a kunai in each hand. The details were all there, with special attention paid to her hair, which was usually the only splash of color on the page, Kakashi's Sharingan, and Naruto's whiskers.

It creeped Naruto out because Naruto was still a child in so many ways himself, but as far as she could tell _this_ was how Sai expressed love. He understood the words, of course, and he could say them as well as anyone else, but it was very likely that he had no idea how words correlated to specific feelings. But to spend as much time as he did drawing them, it had to be some sort of strange form of endearment.

She turned the page again to a collection of faceless nudes—some thin, some muscular, some round and full-figured. The poses were modest and natural, with the emphasis put on muscle definition and realism and it made her smile. It was refreshing that Sai didn't seem to find anything sexual in a naked body. All he seemed to see in the human form, clothed or otherwise, were the lines and angles that could be drawn.

However, she couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at one figure that looked vaguely like her—the splash of pink in the hair was a dead giveaway. At first she was ready to march into the shower and beat him to death with the towel rack, but after a deep breath she decided it against it. It was still rather modest and technical and Sai probably hadn't even thought anything of it. Besides, if it _was_ supposed to be her, it was… well, rather flattering.

Feeling just that much better about herself, she turned the page to a larger sketch of an unmasked Kakashi (who as otherwise thankfully clothed, because it was one thing to see herself drawn that way; it would be disturbing on several other levels to see Sai's interpretation of Kakashi). He was seated with one leg bent and the other stretched out in front of him, an arm propped on his knee, and his head tipped to one side. A great deal of attention was paid to the lean muscles of his arms and chest, the folds of the clothes, and even his feet and hands. His expression was of thoughtful indifference and, much like she had always pictured him herself, he was attractive but not beautifully handsome.

"Do you like them?"

Sakura looked up to Sai, who was standing in the bedroom door in a pair of sweats. "Very much," she said. "This one of Kakashi is really good."

"Not accurate, though," Sai replied as he dropped down onto the bed beside her.

"Why not?"

He reached over and tapped Kakashi's bared face. "I was just guessing."

Sakura frowned. "Well, I like it."

"Then keep it if you want. Keep the whole book. I think every page is used."

"Oh good, because I was going to tear out that nude of me anyway," she replied with a narrow look in his direction.

The artist, looking completely unabashed, shrugged as he reached down and grabbed a tee-shirt off the floor. "You're a good model when it comes to practicing figure drawings." Then, as if realizing what she had really meant he hastily added, "I was just guessing."

She laughed and wrapped an arm around his shoulders, giving him a brief squeeze. "_That_ is how you give a compliment," she said and before he could even ask her to explain, she changed the subject. "Now, why did you want me to come over?"

Sai blinked at her. "For company?"

He said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world with such an innocent look of confusion that she couldn't help but smile a little wider. "Right, silly me," she replied.

* * *

After a vicious and lengthy internal debate, Sakura decided to return Kakashi's milk. It wasn't that she felt bad, childish, or silly for taking it. Nope. She just had a quart at home already and there was no need for her to bring another back just so that it could go sour, especially when the man had cereal that would otherwise go uneaten. So, in reality, she was worried about the cereal.

"What are you doing?"

Pakkun was sitting on the back of the couch, watching her with his head cocked to the side.

"Just dropping off some milk," Sakura replied, hugging Sai's sketchpad close to her with one arm and the carton with the other. "Where's Kakashi?"

Pakkun jerked his head toward the bathroom door. "Showering."

She nodded, deciding that if she could make this quick she could get out before he finished. "How was Missy today?"

He huffed and leapt down from the couch as the girl made her way to the kitchen, which was little more than an old stove, a tiny fridge, and a few shabby cupboards shoved into the corner of Kakashi's living room. "I didn't go see her."

"_Oh_?"

"Don't sound so smug, Girly," he scolded. He jumped easily onto the kitchen table and gave the sketchbook a good sniff. "She was seeing _another_ dog beside me and the Inuzuka. Some street mutt."

"So, she was a bit of a tart," Sakura murmured as she opened the fridge and put the milk away. She shut the door again quickly, to seal away the smell that had been creeping forth from the passage and made a mental note to clean it the next time she felt generous. "Sorry to hear that, Pak."

"Eh, it's okay. Me and the Inuzuka are getting along now. I thought he deserved a heads-up."

She smiled. "You're a class act. Where are the other boys?"

"Out," the dog replied as he scratched at a spot behind his ear with his hind leg.

Sakura reached over to rub the area for him, earning a blissful sigh in return. "Let them know that I said hello. Also, when you guys are out and around town, I always have leftovers at my place if you want to drop by for a quick meal."

"I'll pass it on." Pakkun turned his head quick toward the bedroom and then looked back to Sakura. "You gonna say hello? He sounds like he's finishing up."

She made a face. "I probably should just go." She paused and gave him a sly look. "Pakkun?"

"Uh-oh," he grumbled. "It ain't ever a good thing when you take that tone with me."

"It's just a small question, Pak. There's a day coming up that Kakashi usually disappears on. It's like he drops off the face of the Earth."

"Yeah, I know it," he replied. "The sixteenth, right?"

Sakura tapped her nose. "You got it. Can you tell me what's so special about the sixteenth?"

Pakkun made a face. "I don't know. If he won't tell ya, I shouldn't."

"C'mon, Pak. I'm just worried about him."

"Sorry, Girly."

She sighed, dropping her head back in frustration. "I understand," she grumbled. "You know me. He's my friend and I'm just… being nosy I guess."

"Sort of expected of a ninja," the Pug replied.

"Yeah, that's my excuse." She reached out to scratch under his chin and turned toward the door. "Keep an eye on him for me, okay?"

"No problem."

Sakura smiled and then slipped out, pulling the door shut just behind her.

Pakkun listened as her footsteps headed down the hallway and when they hit the stairwell, he looked back to the bedroom. "She's gone," he said calmly.

The door opened and Kakashi stepped out, rubbing at his hair with a towel. "It's good to know that you're so quick to let me know when someone sneaks in," he drawled, lifting an eyebrow at the dog.

The Pug snorted softly. "She wasn't exactly being quiet when she got here and she's got a key to the place anyway, don't she?"

Kakashi pouted slightly. "Not really my point."

Pakkun hummed noncommittally in reply and then began to scratch at his ear again. "Why was she asking about the sixteenth?"

"It's the day of the Spring Festival." Kakashi shrugged and leaned his weight into the doorframe as he crossed his arms over his chest. "She wanted me to go with her."

"Let me guess," the dog scoffed, "You said no?"

"I'm busy."

Pakkun snorted so hard that his jowls billowed slightly. "Right."

The man rolled his eyes as he tied his forehead protector in place and then slid it down over his left eye. "Let me guess, you think I should go."

"Yeah."

"Why?"

The dog leapt down from the table and trotted back over to the couch. "Sakura asked you to go with _her_?"

"Her and the boys."

"But _she_ asked _you_?"

"Yeah so?"

Pakkun picked a cushion to settle down on and spared Kakashi a look. "Yeah so, when was the last time a girl that pretty asked you to go anywhere with her? Besides, she's your friend, isn't she?"

And even though Kakashi wanted to, because it was just a little sad to lose an argument with his own dog, he couldn't think of anything to fire back with. The Pug was right.

"Kakashi," Pakkun began, looking a little more serious this time. "I know you miss her."

His hands shot up immediately, as if to fend off the words while another part of him shut down completely. They weren't going to discuss this. Sakura was a big girl and she knew him well enough to expect a 'no'. She understood. So what if she was mad for a few days? "I never go to festivals anyway, so it doesn't matter. Sakura will have Naruto and Sai to—"

"What if something happens to them, Kakashi?"

Kakashi froze at this.

Pakkun looked to his feet and then took a weary breath. "Rin has been gone for a very long time. It's sad and it'll always hurt because you don't just forget pack mates. That isn't something that fades. But those pups, whether you want them to be or not, are your pack now. We both know they're good, strong ninja—you made sure of that—but things can happen to even the best of the best on a mission and if something would… well, a night on the town isn't exactly a fate worse than death."

Silence. Kakashi had found a spot on the ceiling to focus on and Pakkun wasn't willing to say any more. Dogs were not, by nature, tactful in the way humans were, but he knew that nothing more needed to be said. He had hit his mark.

"I told the boys that I'd catch up with them." He looked to the door, eager now for an escape. "Later, Kakashi."

The man responded with an offhanded wave, although it didn't look like what Pakkun had said had really registered. Nevertheless, the dog fled and left his master alone with his thoughts.

Dogs didn't have it in them to dance around things like humans did. Kakashi tended to call it being 'tactful' or 'courteous', but Pakkun just called it being 'silly'. Dogs were straight-forward. If a splinter hurt, it needed to be pulled. If there was a problem between members of the pack, it needed to be fought out. If a friend needed to hear something, even if it hurt or made everyone involved uncomfortable, it needed to be said.

* * *

1. I think I forgot to mention last chapter that I love my reviewers. ... I love my reviewers. Lots.

2. So much for shorter chapters.

3. But I figure this can be the exception. School starts in a week and updates will probably slow down considerably after that.

4. A part of me thinks that beginning scene was stupid, but then another part of me defends it by saying that Naruto is stupid so it's all good. Then another part of me just liked the idea of the three of them having a scene like that together.

5. Anyone ever notice how particularly vicious the Naruto shipping fandom is? I mean, if you want to start a flame war, just state your opinion on NaruHina or NaruSaku on any given forum and BAM! To that end, I don't usually ship Naruto and Hinata. I'm not even really shipping them here. I'm more just taunting you with it. ... Taunt, taunt.

6. Which reminds me. Since right now the plot is just the thin, waifish thing in the corner, I'm going to sandwich the KakaSaku goodness between other character cameos. So many of you seem to like my characterization the best, so I figure I'll touch on all of the characters that intrigue me. That's why Sai gets such a big, contemplative part in this chapter. Hinata will get a moment of her own later. Gaara and the Sand Sibs too.

7. Let the smoke clear a moment from all that name-dropping.

8. Ah, there we go. Kakashi and Sakura both get to act like children in this and the only explanation I have for that is the fact that I can NEVER have a serious argument with my friends. We always devolve until we're six-years-old again and then we resort to the ever classy "You're stupid!" "Am not!" "Are too!" In this situation, Sakura's being a little bratty because she's not getting her way and Kakashi's not taking the most grown-up route of turning her down (I have a feeling that he'd just keep trying to annoy her with the hopes that she'd leave).

9. PAKKUN! ... Oh and Rin. Okay, so yeah some anvils need dropping and something tells me that Pakkun would always be the voice of reason for Kakashi when he starts to wallow a little too much in the past. Also, I justify Pakkun still being around with my thought that Ninken probably live a lot longer than normal dogs with all of the extra chakra. Also, that end bit is so why I love dogs.

So, the festival should pop up either next chapter or the one after that. It depends on how I want this to move. I think it being chapter seven, I feel okay with approaching some KakaSaku mush. Keep in mind that the festival itself isn't really based off of one that really happens in Japan (although I understand that in the spring it's very popular to celebrate the cherry blossoms blooming), but there will be a few things I mention that are based off of festival traditions. Keep an eye out for those (I'll probably note them at the end anyway).

**Now I'm done rambling and it's time for you to review!**

**-**_Record needle scratch-_

Wait a moment! It's time for Karaoke! Well, okay, not really. But it is time for me to share with you something I do with a lot of my fics. Because I'm the type to listen to music while I write, I wanted to share a few songs that I've been listening to on repeat. Now some of them have more to do with the story than others, but go ahead and give them a listen.

Dancing - Elisa

First Time - Lifehouse

Fix You - Coldplay

Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer

Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

Satisfy - Vedera

**Okay, done. Now review. Go!**


	7. In Which There are a Thousand Cranes

**House Calls**

**Chapter 7**

**

* * *

**

"So, how many does that make?" Ino asked from where she lay sprawled on the floor, her hair down and fanned out around her.

Tenten stretched her arms up over her head, her back popping several times as she did so. It was late, with only the street lamps outside lighting the dark roads. "Seven-hundred I think."

"So, three-hundred to go. Three-hundred divided by four is?" Ino twirled a length of licorice in her fingers before taking a bite off the end.

"Seventy-five," Hinata replied as she was pouring steaming tea into four delicate, porcelain cups. They were all wearing yukata and the room smelled of herbal soap from their facials, nail polish from their manicures and pedicures, and smoke from the burning candles surrounding them.

Ino sighed and craned her head back. "Forehead!" she bellowed. "How are those cookies coming?"

Sakura appeared a moment later, carrying a tray of sugar cookies that she laid, among the bags of chips, the three other different kinds of cookies, the licorice, and the pocky. They had pushed her furniture out of the way and threw pillows into a circle on the floor, using it as a work surface. All around them, on the couch, the coffee table, the window sills, and the dining table were hundreds of paper cranes in various pinks, blues, greens, and purples.

"Aren't you on a diet?" Tenten asked as she grabbed two cookies and dipped them eagerly into her tea.

Ino laughed and rolled over onto her stomach, her long blond hair falling everywhere. "Actually, this vegetarian thing has really been working out so I don't have to worry about a couple of cookies or some candy. Besides, I always make allowances for festival calories. They don't count."

Hinata chuckled quietly at that. "Is that how it works?" she asked with a smile.

"Hey, what the calories don't know won't hurt me," Ino replied brightly. She looked to Sakura, who had settled down beside her and frowned. "Something wrong, Forehead? You're being really quiet."

"I'm fine."

It was a lie, but there was no reason for Ino to know that mostly because Sakura could never explain in a million years what had her so upset. If she did, she'd no doubt promptly keel over in embarrassment. Because she was nineteen, a highly respected kunoichi, the apprentice of the freakin' Godaime, and she found herself still upset that Kakashi refused to go to the festival. She hadn't talked to him a week! It'd been _ages_ since she had gone that long without speaking to him.

And why in the name of sense did she care? She had assumed from the moment that Naruto had brought it up that he'd say 'no', so why did it matter so much when he actually did? Kakashi never did anything like that with them. Why would this be different?

_Oh_.

Sakura's fingers were working on another crane, even though her mind was a million miles away.

Kakashi _never_ did anything with them.

Well, maybe "never" being harsh. He also _never _complained when she showed up with the boys at his apartment with take-out and dessert, he came by her house when she invited him for dinner, and they did regularly go out on missions together. However, for the better part, what they did was largely the result of her and the boys (especially her) barging in on his life. After all, he might be content with his empty little apartment and his quiet, cozy little existence on the outskirts of society, but _they_ weren't.

Sakura frowned. But maybe to some degree Nauto had been right. She was closer to the copy-nin. After all, he came to see her (and only her, as far as she knew) before he left on missions and always after he returned. When he was sick the winter before, he had spent a weekend in her guest room without an argument. And then the next time she had a cold, breakfast in the form of chicken soup and pastries had appeared on her kitchen counter in the morning (and the only reason she knew it was from him was because the bag and cup both had the henohenomoheji drawn on them).

So, maybe they were closer by, maybe, a few inches.

"Forehead!"

Sakura jumped and nearly tore the fold she was making. "_What_?" she barked, surging back to reality with the same Tsunade-bred fire in her eyes that sent most wise men running for cover.

Ino, who regularly threatened to summon Sakura when anyone in the hospital dared to misbehave but was never cowed by her personally, simply smiled. "Oh, good to have you back," she replied sweetly. "Hinata was asking about the new kimono you got for the festival and would really like to see it. That is if you don't mind setting aside what appears to be your attempt at breaking the record for most cranes folded in a single ten minute span. I think that's your third, by the way."

Sakura glanced down sheepishly at the half-finished origami bird in her hand and then back to her friends. "Sorry," she murmured. She looked to Hinata and smiled. "It's in my room. I'll go get it."

She shook her head as she went to her bedroom and opened her closet, where the kimono hung. Losing track of time while thinking about Kakashi; that was a new one. She wasn't even thinking about how much she wanted to kill him, which was usually the case in such situations involving one of her teammates.

"Here it is," she said as she stepped back into the living room and presented the silk garment to her friends.

Hinata got up, eager for a closer look. Ino had never managed to get the girl concerned with fashion, but she did seem to have a very particular love for kimonos and owned countless dozens of them. The position of clan leader had never been beneficial for such a silly reason; it allowed her to get away with wearing traditional clothes at all times with no one being wiser to the fact that she just really liked pretty dresses. "Oh it's lovely," she breathed. "Did you get it from the shop I told you about downtown?"

"Yes!" Sakura replied eagerly. "Thanks so much for that, by the way. I had a hard time picking just one!"

The kimono was simple, cut from cotton of a dusty, sage green with a sparse, overall pattern of white cherry blossoms while the obi and the trim at the collar and sleeves were a pale pink. It would be cool for the festival and with any luck wouldn't clash with anything Naruto chose.

"Jeez, Forehead," Ino said, although she sounded distinctly _proud_, "That must have cost your whole paycheck!"

"Actually, Tsunade chipped in a little and said that it was a bonus for taking care of so many of the guys here," Sakura explained with a laugh. "Besides, she probably thinks that this will make up for the inevitable fact that she will disappear mid-way through the festival and I'll be left apologizing for her."

"Some things never change," Tenten replied.

And, even though none of them said it out loud, they all unanimously agreed on just how nice that really was.

* * *

Ino finished the last crane somewhere around seven in the morning and then they all promptly fell into sugar-induced comas in the living room. They woke around ten-ish when Shikamaru ("Why exactly do you do this to yourselves every year?") and Chouji ("Awesome, sugar cookies!") arrived looking for Ino ("Oh God, don't mention cookies! I feel like I'm going to puke as it is!"), whose shift at the flower shop was supposed to start at seven. One glance at the clock sent Hinata dashing for the door in a similarly panicked fashion. She had promised Kurenai that she would meet her at noon for lunch and Tenten was soon on her heels because she was supposed to meet Neji.

In one fell swoop, Sakura's apartment was empty. Just her and one thousand paper cranes.

"_Wow_."

Or not so empty.

Sakura turned sharply toward the kitchen door where Pakkun was seated atop Bull's head, the two of them surveying the scene with skeptical looks. "I had a party last night."

"An _origami_ party?" Pakkun snorted. "Doesn't sound like much fun."

"It's an opposable thumbs thing. What's up?"

"Uh… nothin'."

A pink eyebrow climbed up to Sakura's hairline. "_Okay_," she murmured. She bent forward and scratched Bull under the chin, earning a low rumble of approval of the massive, black beast. "Hey, Bull. How are you?"

"Pretty good," he replied in a deep, baritone. "You?"

"About the same. Do you guys want something to eat? I have some leftovers in the fridge and a ton of junk food out in the living room. Just stay away from the pocky. It's chocolate. And be careful of the cranes."

Bull got up and made a move toward the junk food as Pakkun leapt off his head and followed Sakura into her bedroom. "Actually, Kakashi had a favor to ask."

"Why didn't he come himself?" Sakura asked the little dog jumped up onto her bed and she began to rifle through her closet for some clothes.

"He's busy."

"Oh, right."

The idea of Kakashi alone in his apartment, hurting for a reason that she didn't understand caused an acute pain in her own chest. She could be there for Naruto and Sai. They were easy. But there was little she could do for Kakashi—there very little that he would _let_ her do.

Because _she_ was right too. She might spend more time with Kakashi outside of missions than Naruto did, but she certainly didn't know anything more about the man's life than he did. Kakashi was as much of an enigma now as he had been from day one. He was just a much closer enigma, one who ate her food when he ran out and sometimes slept on her couch.

"What's the favor?"

"You got a sewing kit?"

Sakura, who was pulling some fresh underwear out of her drawer, paused. This was not an unfamiliar scenario. Pakkun often dropped by to run errands for Kakashi, often asking for disinfectant or various other medical-related things that he knew she had on hand.

But a sewing kit? That was new.

"Yeah, somewhere," she replied.

"… You're not going to ask what for?"

"Oh, I'm dying to. I didn't think that today of all days Kakashi would be getting domestic. However, since it is _Kakashi_ requesting it, you probably won't tell me the truth _anyway_ so let's just skip that step." She spared him a smile as she knelt down and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser. "Here."

The box was small, made from varnished wood with a handle and a heart-shaped lock. "Pretty," Pakkun noted, canting his head to the side.

"It was my mom's," Sakura answered. A sad smile pulled at her lips, one that he noticed but didn't mention. "Just take care of it, okay?"

"Will do."

He grabbed it up in his jaws and then trotted out of the room with it, his head high as the box was nearly his size. She watched from the doorway as the Pug handed the box over to Bull and then leapt atop the larger dog's head. "Thanks, Sakura," they said in unison and they disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Yep," she said to herself with a nod. "I'm never seeing that again."

* * *

Sakura could see the first firework explode into a cloud of fiery, silver sparkles from her bedroom window and it made her smile from ear-to-ear. "That was the kick-off," she said brightly.

"We should get going then," Tenten replied as she slipped into her sandals. The cheongsam she wore was short and dark blue and simplicity in itself, much like all of her clothes. Her trademark, utilitarian buns were still in place, but for the sake of the festival tied with silver, blue, and gold ribbons that just brushed the back of her neck. "Let me check your obi again. It's been ages since I've had to tie one of those things and I want to make sure it's right."

In many ways, Sakura admired the girl's confidence. Tenten never felt the need to show off to earn approval or perform for anyone's sake and she was obviously _very_ comfortable in her own as she didn't even flinch at Gai and Lee's antics anymore. She didn't even wear make-up while Sakura felt self-conscious if she left the house without at least a little concealer.

"You look really nice," Sakura said at length, over her shoulder to the weapon's mistress.

Tenten caught her eye and smiled brightly. "Amazing, right? A nice dress and pretty shoes and even I look like a girl."

"I don't think Neji would look at you like he does if you didn't always look like a girl," Sakura replied. "You just look like a really well-dressed one tonight."

"Well, Ino picked out the dress," Tenten said, not even reacting at the mention of her teammate. Tsunade could only pray for such a poker face. "I suppose it stands to reason that it'd look nice. I'm just glad she avoided purple, although the skirt is a bit short."

"When it comes to skirts, Ino's working methodology is something like 'it could be shorter'." Sakura smiled. "I should have warned you, I guess."

Tenten grinned back. "I should have known. But it's okay. I don't have the need for any somersaulting tonight and you must admit that my legs are _awesome_. That's a side effect of Gai's training I'll bet he never anticipated."

Sakura couldn't help but laugh at that. "Will he or the boys be around tonight?"

"Neji should be, but Gai and Lee were sent out on an escort mission with some chuunin a few days ago so they might not make it back in time," the brunette replied and though she sounded relieved Sakura knew it was a cover. Tenten laughed suddenly. "They're great to have around for the games, though. It's ten times more fun to beat them than it is Neji. He just gets all pouty when he loses; they'll pay for another twenty rounds. Are your boys coming?"

"Well, Sai and Naruto are."

"But no Kakashi?" Tenten frowned slightly at Sakura's obvious disappointment and then tried to lighten the situation with a small laugh. "Well, if Gai does show up then he'll be disappointed."

Sakura smiled at that. "I'm sure he will. However, Naruto is usually more than willing to take up a good challenge, so perhaps Gai will make do."

Tenten nodded. "Yeah, hopefully," she said. She straightened and led the way out of the bedroom and then moved over to shoulder open the guest room door, where Hinata and Ino had been preparing. "C'mon, you two. Let's get going."

* * *

According to legend, if one succeeded in folding one thousand paper cranes, a real crane would appear and grant the individual responsible with a single wish.

For the last two years, Sakura, Tenten, Ino, and Hinata had spent the night before the Spring Festival, the festival of rebirth and growth, folding a thousand paper cranes. It was only a thousand between them, two-hundred and fifty a piece, but they figured that that was fine because they all wanted the same thing: the safety of their friends and their village.

And once they made their wish together, they packed the cranes away in baskets and then carried them to the festival. The little cranes were good luck, according to the legend. Good luck, health, and long life. Everyone could use a bit of that. So they decided to spread it around, handing the cranes out to complete strangers as they passed them by, leaving them on window sills and in trees, and generally covering the town in the little birds. The boys thought they were crazy, but that didn't stop them from taking home one.

"Do I get one now?" Naruto asked eagerly as Sakura approached him again. Behind her a group of children were busily comparing the cranes they held and smiling widely as they chattered at each other.

"Sure. Pick one."

He looked grown up and so handsome in his traditional garb, the white of his haori and the blue and grey of his kimono and hakama making him look regal and mature and—"I want a blue one!"

"You always want blue."

"Well, I'm color-coordinating them."

Sakura laughed and dug a blue crane out of her basket before presenting it to Naruto with a flourish. He grinned broadly at her and took the crane with one hand as he scooped her up against him with the other, hugging her tightly.

Around them, the wide, main street (and the many streets that branched from it) was packed with people, civilians and shinobi alike set on enjoying themselves. Fireworks went off sporadically in the background, the sound of the explosions drowned out by the street musicians and the raucous happiness of the evening, underlined by smell of food on nearly every corner. Overhead, lines of paper lanterns were strung between the buildings, casting a soft glow down over everything.

"Forehead!"

Ino was making her way toward them in the crowd, holding Sai by the hand with Shikamaru and Chouji trailing after. Her blonde hair was piled high atop her head in a mass of braids pinned in place by chopsticks while her dress was what Tenten had cheerfully called a "bastardized kimono", the hem not being long enough to reach her knees while the sleeves nearly touched her shins. It was pale lavender covered in swirls of purple flowers and tied with an orange obi.

"Found him!" the blonde girl said brightly as she closed in. She held out the hand that was still holding Sai's. "I bequeath him unto you."

Sakura laughed and took the artist's hand from her friend. Sai, who was obviously totally indifferent to being passed around like a lost puppy, simply fell in beside Sakura, still hanging onto her hand. It was then that Sakura realized that while his kimono and hakama may have been black, his haori was a deep, emerald green. Really, it was the small triumphs.

"Aw, you three need a picture or something," Ino cooed as she propped an elbow on Chouji's shoulder and cocked one hip. "So cute. I couldn't get the sourpuss here to dress traditionally and he talked Chouji out of it to annoy me."

"You aren't wearing anything remotely traditional," Shikamaru protested with a scowl. He glanced at the others and offered a casual, "Hey."

Sakura smiled. "You got him out of his flak jacket, I think that's a triumph," she said, nodding at Shikamaru who was just wearing a black Jonin sweater and plain, black pants.

The Jonin averted his eyes with a scowl. "Naruto, Chouji and I were just going to grab something to eat, you want to come?"

"Sure!" the blond said excitedly. "You coming, Sakura?"

"I'll eat a little later," Sakura replied. "You guys have fun. Catch up with me and Sai when you're done, okay Naruto?"

Naruto waved and the three of them disappeared into the crowd—or as much as anyone could disappear with Naruto accompanying them. Ino watched them go and then looked back to her friend. "Have you seen Tenten or Hinata since getting here?" she asked. "Tenten sort of vanished on me and Hinata was whisked away by Kiba the second he saw her."

"Oh, I haven't seen either…" Sakura trailed off when Sai gently nudged her with his elbow and pointed to the left. She turned to look and smiled when she spotted the weapon's mistress. "Speak of the devil and it looks like Neji's with her too. We'll be able to find Hinata easy with him. Tenten, Neji, over here!"

Both brunettes paused and began searching the crowd. Neji spotted them first and pointed them out to Tenten, who beamed happily and waved. They both took steps forward to cross the street, but their progress was immediately halted by twin, enthusiastic cries of triumph. Lee's flying tackle was perfectly executed and while Sakura felt a slight pang of pity for the Hyuuga, it was totally worth it to see the startled look on Neji's face as he was nearly taken off of his feet by his friend. Tenten was just a little luckier in that Gai managed to show some restraint and, rather than tackling her, just swept her up into a bear hug and whirled her around. Fighting back was useless. Neji hadn't managed to evade the initial assault so prying off the Taijustu master now just wasn't going to happen and Tenten, though the tallest of the girls, had nothing on Konoha's Beautiful Green Beast.

Ino, Sakura, and Sai all glanced at each other and then surreptitiously turned the other way and disappeared.

* * *

"Sai!"

There was totally a reason Sakura held onto Sai's hand when they were in public together, especially when it was very busy.

"Sai!"

For being a tall, paper pale and strikingly pretty young man, Sai could disappear into a crowd like he was just another face. He didn't even mean to, it seemed. It was just something that happened whenever she'd lose sight of him for a moment. Did they teach that in ROOT? If they did, it was apparently something he had never remembered to turn off.

Heaving a sigh Sakura gave up. Sai was a big boy and when he wanted to he'd inevitably and easily find her again. At any rate, standing there and shouting his name wasn't helping.

Sakura jumped when she felt something crawling on the back of her neck and slapped at it. She drew her hand in front of her to inspect the offender's remains, only to find that they weren't there, not that she was particularly upset about _not_ having bug guts—oh!

"Oops, sorry," she said sheepishly as a very familiar black beetle crawled up to rest on the tip of her finger and waggled its feelers at her.

The bug turned and she followed the general direction she felt it was trying to indicate. And there stood Shino with Hinata. Of course. Why would two of the quietest people in Konoha shout across the square when they could just send a messenger? Now if Kiba had been with them…

She smile and approached them, moving easily between the people shouting, laughing, and milling around her. As she went, she pulled a paper crane out of her basket and tucked one into a little girl's hood and placed another on an old man's shoulder.

"Shino," she greeted with a warm smile as she extended her hand toward him and let the bug flutter from her finger to him. It landed on his high collar and then quickly disappeared from view as he nodded politely in return. She looked them to Hinata. "I see you escaped Kiba _and_ managed to get Shino here. Both quite the accomplishments."

"I lost track of him in the crowd, truth be told," the soft-spoken girl replied. She smiled. Her hand as very lightly resting on the inside of one of Shino's arms, which was slightly crooked as his hand was stuffed in the pocket of his large coat. "But I do take credit for getting Shino here."

As expected, the Aburame said nothing in reply. Sakura smiled. "Well, I'm glad and, again, you look great, Hinata."

The yukata that Hinata wore was particularly fine, colored a dark purple and ornately patterned with white clouds and pink cherry blossoms while the obi was a dark red and tied into the plainest knot at her back. The girl flushed a pretty pink and smile warmly. "So do you."

"Thanks!" Sakura replied with a smile. "So, seeing as I've managed to lose Sai and Ino, would you two walk with me?"

"Oh?" Hinata murmured, frowning slightly. "We thought you were probably with him."

Sakura frowned and turned around, her eyes widening when she saw a familiar, slouching figure standing just a few feet away. "Kakashi?"

He offered her an eye-crinkle and a short wave. "Yo."

She swore that he did these things just to annoy her.

* * *

1. How do I love my reviewers? Let me count the ways!

2. I swear the updates are going to slow down. I'm just not sure when.

3. For example, class starts tomorrow. ... I'll apologize now for the semi-cliffhangerish ending there.

4. Oh and sorry for the premature promise of fluff. I intended to just get on with the festival thing, but then the paper crane idea popped to mind and I rather liked it. Paper cranes have come to symbolize peace, but they're also a traditional decoration at... a festival. I want to say Tanabata, but I'm sure that as soon as I do, I'll be wrong and I don't want to go wiki it because I'll start on a full Wiki Binge at that point, resurface five hours from now, and realize that I still haven't finished this note. They also mean good health, long life, and the like. Oh, and you could totally fold a thousand of them in one night. I folded a few just to see how quickly it could be done and my hands aren't nearly as practiced as the girls' would be after a few years.

5. Favoritism toward Pakkun? Noooo. Where would you get that idea? Also, I know that Bull isn't supposed to talk, but I pictured him with Brad Garrett's voice and it made me laugh hysterically.

6. Anyone get the feeling that I love Gai and Lee? Because I do. A lot. Not just as comedic relief either (although, that's the only purpose they've served here thus far), but because I really like the fact that they're heroic-acting heroes. Sure they're silly, but they believe in justice, truth, honor, honesty, and being nice guys and I really, truly love that with so many dark, gritty anti-heroes running around fiction. They're not edgy anymore, people! And you've pushed the envelope too far! They're not "heroes", they're just assholes! Gai and Lee also say a lot about hard work and I love that too. They weren't just blessed with uber-powers or super genius. They've worked their asses off to earn every the skills they have and they don't stand around bitching and moaning about the gifts they DON'T have.

7. End Rant.

8. Who saw me struggling not to use the Dynamic Entry joke again?

9. The "turn and disappear" thing with Sai is based off of my aunt's amazing ability to do just that. Seriously, you can be talking right to her, look away for a second, and she's gone. Maybe SHE'S a ninja.

I don't know why I don't ever number this last note. It's just as random and utterly plot unrelated as the others, but it just doesn't get a number. Huh.

**(Anyhoodle, we are Siamese if you please, we are Siamese if you don't please, so just review.)**

**(And if you read "so just review" in time to the "ba-dum-bum-bum" that happens at that point in the song, congratulations you think the same way I do and I love you even more. Also, good luck getting that song out of your head.)  
**


	8. In Which There are Memories and Trust

**House Calls**

**Chapter 8**

**Note:** Buckle up for the long haul with this chapter.

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was charming. It was probably why he got by being a porn-reading, perpetually tardy loner, because the excuse that he was a genius only went just so far. It was why Tsunade let him slide on late mission reports and Sakura found herself smiling at him when he committed offenses that would get Naruto and Sai punched. He knew what to do, what to say, how to act to get the right response…

This, Sakura reasoned, was probably the biggest motivating factor behind him showing up in traditional garb. It was all in shades of gray and looked sort of old, but it was the same thing Sai and Naruto were wearing and it made his tall, lanky frame appear slightly less so. It also made Sakura grin so hard it hurt because that damnable mask was still in place and looked downright silly but so very _him_.

Damn the man.

Hinata touched her arm gently to draw her attention and smiled before turning away again, signaling that they'd catch up later. Sakura watched her rejoin Shino and then the two of them stepped into the crowd together and disappeared from view.

"So, what do you _do_ at these things?" Kakashi was suddenly on her right, his thumbs looped in the tie of his hakama as he had no pockets to hide them in. He glanced down at her and nudged her gently with his elbow. "You can't pout anymore. I'm here, aren't I?"

Sakura smiled at him, feeling inexplicably happy. "Yes. But I hope you didn't come just because I was acting like a brat."

He spared her a sideways look. His forehead protector was replaced by a plain black cloth without the metal insignia plate and his hair appeared to be at least haphazardly combed, but it was hard to tell. "Oh? So I can go?" he wondered, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.

Sakura immediately grabbed onto his arm, locking her hand around his elbow and scowling. "_No_," she replied firmly. Her eyes shifted from his to his shoulder and her brows knitted together at a roughly sewn seam that stretched across the upper arm of his haori. She smiled again. "You know, I've sutured wounds cleaner than that with enemy nins closing in on me."

"That bad?" he wondered and she could hear the pout in his tone.

She patted him reassuringly as they started through the crowd together, her hand still resting in the crook of his arm. "Well, you can't be good at everything. What happened to it?"

"I wore it on a mission not too long ago," he replied with a shrug. "Enemy kunai."

Sakura nodded, sparing him a short look, but it was enough to get her grinning again. "I still can't believe you came."

* * *

Kakashi didn't even bother faking indignation at her comment. _He _still couldn't believe he had come, but Pakkun's words were still bouncing around in his mind, echoing. For all of the thoughts that usually took him over on this day, that one remained the loudest. "I just thought about it a little more after you left. What's in the basket?"

Smooth, Hatake. That didn't sound like an abrupt change of subject at all. But, if Sakura noticed, she didn't give any indication of it as she smiled. "Paper cranes."

A silver eyebrow quirked at her. "All right, I'll bite. Why?"

"The girls and I pass them out during the Spring Festival. Like this." She pulled a crane from her basket, glanced around her, and then tucked it into the gaping pocket of the random stranger standing to her left. She looked back to Kakashi, beaming. "It's a tradition we started a few years ago when all of the boys were away on a mission. I think it was Hinata's idea to make the cranes. It was Tenten who suggested making a thousand and we made a game out of who could make the most. I guess we just wanted a distraction."

Kakashi smiled back. He vaguely remembered the mission she was talking about as he and a few other older Jonin had been assigned to lead the younger men in an assault against a faction of guerillas in Stone Country. What had meant to be a quick and dirty surprise attack had turned into a week playing a very dangerous game of hide-and-seek in the mountains. "Every year since then, huh? And how exactly do you divide one wish among four people? Draw straws?"

Sakura laughed. "We don't. We just make the same wish; that our boys and our village will always be safe." She nudged him with her elbow as she added, "I realize that that's a lot to ask of a crane, what with your track records, but we figure we'll give it a shot anyway."

Despite himself, Kakashi smiled at this. He was doing the best he could to listen so that his mind wouldn't wander, so that it'd be worth actually being there, so he was really _there_ with her and not lost in his own thoughts. Thus far it was working. He tended to pay more attention to what Sakura was saying on a regular basis anyway. Failing to do so typically led to grievous harm. "I didn't think you liked going out."

"I've just been trying not to think too hard about it," she replied, but he noted the uneasy stiffness of her shoulders.

Obviously that plan wasn't working. Not fair. If he had to be here in all aspects, so did she. "So, you never answered my question," he said.

"Which question?"

"What do you _do_ at these things?"

Sakura smiled. "There are games, but they're mostly for the civilians."

"Oh?"

"Well, it's not really a rule, but everyone who has been practicing their aim for the majority of their lives do tend to stay away from them for the sake of fairness," she explained.

There was something very pointed about the way she said it and Kakashi found himself grinning. She knew him well. Maybe a little too well. He brushed the thought aside. "Then what else is there to do?" he asked.

"Listen to the music, take in the scenery, eat the food, enjoy the fact that the village is at peace for the most part." She glanced down at the basket hanging from her hand. "And get rid of the rest of these cranes."

"Sakura-san!" The voice was excited, but its pitch raised an octave when it squealed, "Kaka-chan!"

Kakashi turned and grunted as a dark-haired, pink-kimono-wearing bullet rammed him. "Asuka-chan," he coughed as he wrapped an arm around the little girl. "Hello."

Little arms wrapped around his neck and Asuka leaned backwards a little to grin at him, her red-eyes gleaming brightly. Then she leaned even further back, bending nearly in half and forcing Kakashi to fumble to support her as she did so. Asuka grinned at Sakura, upside-down. "Hi, Sakura-san!"

_Please, take her,_ Kakashi mouthed at Sakura.

Sakura's answering smile was positively vicious. It very clearly and very gleefully said, "_No_." It softened fractionally when she looked to the little girl, ignoring Kakashi's glare. "Hello, Asuka-chan. My, my you look very pretty. Is that a new kimono?"

"Yes!" the girl chimed back with obvious pleasure. "Mommy got it for me! You look very, _very_ pretty too Sakura-san!" She straightened and focused her eyes on Kakashi again. "Doesn't she, Kaka-chan?"

Kids, in Kakashi's opinion, existed to be _annoying_. Precocious kids existed to make things annoying _and_ awkward and that was Asuka's every intention. He spared Sakura cursory glance. Really, he hadn't bothered to take notice of how she looked. Sakura was meticulous about her appearance so she always looked nice and tonight was no different although he guessed her yukata was prettier than her usual clothes. "Yeah, sure."

Sakura rolled her eyes at that, but Asuka grinned coyly at him (she might as well have been nudging him grunting, "Uh-huh, right, I know what you mean."). He suspected than any answer would've yielded the same results. God, the kid was only four. … Five? Four?

"Asuka-chan!"

Kakashi glanced back over the little girl's shoulder as Sakura stepped forward and waved. "Kurenai, over here!" she called.

The genjutsu master turned and smiled in relief before approaching. Her kimono was dark blue and stitched with white petals, which matched her white obi, but it lacked any more detail than that. "Asuka-chan, how many times do I have to tell you not to run off like that?" she scolded when she was near enough to be heard. She looked to Sakura. "I'm sorry about her."

"Don't worry about it, we're always glad to see her," Sakura replied.

Yes, yes they were, Kakashi agreed. They were always glad to see Asuka-chan, provided that Kakashi wasn't the one she latched herself onto and he was _always_ the one she latched onto. And he loved the little girl. He'd kill anyone who tried to hurt her. Asuma had been one of his closest friends and he felt that he owed the man that much.

However, Kakashi wasn't one for kids. Especially little ones. The Genin he had been forced to deal with over the years were bad enough, but that was different. He was dealing with them as potential ninja. More importantly, he could punish them in cruel and unusual ways if they got too annoying.

Little kids, on the other hand, couldn't be dealt with rationally. Not to mention they were loud and needy and they were always _sticky_, like they secreted the fruit juice they drank out of every pore as a defense mechanism.

The two women embraced, halting Kakashi's attempts to hand Asuka over. As a result, her little hands fisted his haori even more determinedly. He narrowed his eye at her. She smiled.

Annoyingly, he couldn't intimidate them either. Sure, the Copy Nin scared the most hardened ninja from some of the fiercest villages, but for whatever reason little kids _liked_ him.

"It's always good to see you too," Sakura added as she and Kurenai parted.

The older woman smiled. "The same. Asuka-chan, let's go."

"_Nooo_!" the little girl howled in response. "I want to stay with Kaka-chan and Sakura-san!"

"Asuka-chan, don't be rude. You weren't invited to join them and it isn't polite to interrupt their evening. Now let's go."

Asuka clenched Kakashi's haori a little more resolutely. Okay, so Kakashi complained a lot, but he _did_ rather like being her favorite. It was nice to be admired again; whatever mystique he had held when first taking on Team Seven had long, _long_ faded. It, of course, had been replaced by an almost familial sensibility now, but still it had been nice…

"Shino-kun is around, I hear."

Asuka all but evaporated out of Kakashi's arms and suddenly had her mother by the hand, pulling her away. Kurenai laughed and waved before they vanished.

Kakashi felt vaguely… betrayed.

"Well, that was short and sweet," Sakura said with a laugh. "We'll have to catch up with them later. I… Kakashi-sensei? What's that look for?"

"Why was she so excited about seeing the Aburame?"

Sakura shrugged and then her jaw dropped open as his tone registered. "You're not pouting about that, are you?" she demanded. "Oh c'mon! You always complain when she hangs all over you!"

"Yeah, but…"

She rolled her eyes. "She's five—" _that_ answered that question—"and Shino has bugs that crawl out of his skin. You can't compete with that. Especially since you won't show her your Sharingan and she's just become convinced that your mask _is_ your face. I can't say I've found a reasonable argument against that theory."

Kakashi narrowed his eye at her. He sort of resented the implication that no one was correcting Asuka's assessment of his mask, but _okay_ he'd concede her point about the bugs. Asuka was far, _far_ from being a typical girl her age. Everything that should rightfully creep out a five-year-old girl just didn't bother her so it made sense that she'd find Shino fascinating whereas everyone else gave the man—and his whole clan—a wide berth.

Sakura slipped her hand into the crook of his arm again as she bumped her shoulder into his. "You're a grown man. Act like one. Besides, you'll always be the only Kaka-chan she knows."

"You're patronizing me."

"And enjoying it. Now, let's go and we can get some ice cream to balm that wounded pride of yours. My treat."

* * *

"How many cranes are left?"

Sakura glanced back at Kakashi and smiled. They were seated on top of the Hokage tower, having decided to escape the hustle and bustle of the streets down below as the fireworks geared up for the real show. She leaned over to check the basket sitting beside her. "Just a few."

He nodded and reclined back with his little orange book at hand. Wait a minute. Where exactly did he get that? He didn't have any pockets in those clothes and he wasn't wearing his usual hip-pouch. Her eyes narrowed. Maybe it was just a skill perverts developed—how to pull porn out of mid-air in three easy steps. She smiled to herself and shook her head. "What book is that? Tactics?"

"No, Paradise. I've decided to start the series over again."

She should've known. Paradise was his oldest book and therefore the most pathetically tattered little thing.

"I prefer Violence, myself."

Kakashi slowly looked up from his book, his gray eye wide. Sakura resisted the urge to jump to her feet and whoop in victory like the twelve-year-old in her desperately, _desperately_ wanted to because when had she _ever_ been able to catch him off-guard? She settled for a very tiny internal happy dance.

"What now?"

Sakura smiled at his expression. "Icha Icha Violence. I prefer it. The characters are better developed and Jiraiya obviously put more thought into it. I'm just saying that Paradise and Tactics are kind of shallow in those respects, although Tactics has a pretty good plot as far as porn-romance goes."

Kakashi blinked at her and Sakura could no longer help it. She laughed. Long and hard because she had been looking forward to this moment for the three months that he had been gone and it felt _good_.

"I got bored," she said, by way of explanation. "When I end up with a lot of wounded at my place, I sometimes sit up all night with them to monitor their vitals and make sure that they don't wake up still thinking they're in enemy territory. Usually I'm too exhausted to put any serious thought into anything so I just kind of end up staring at the wall. Then I remembered what you always tell me when I say that porn will rot your brain; don't knock it until you try it or some old cliché like that. So, I tried it and Violence is way better than Paradise and Tactics."

Kakashi was silent for a good minute following this. Then it was like an explosion and Sakura burst into another fit of laughter. "Are you mad?" he demanded. "Paradise is a classic!"

"Classic? It reads more like a rough draft compared to the other two, even Tactics!" she replied, though she was hardly intelligible through her laughter. "Hokages, is it awful! What the hell was Jiraiya thinking with the lead? She's _so_ dull! All I can assume is that he probably had a blow-up doll in mind when he created her and given how much of a tramp she is in the book, it wouldn't shock me."

Kakashi looked aghast, or as much as one could while wearing a mask. "She is _not_!"

"She sleeps with _every_ male character!"

"Not Hisoka!"

"He's supposed to be a hundred-years-old and even at that I'm kind of shocked that she didn't spread her knees for him. God knows with her impossible physique to inspire him he could probably get it up."

This stirred up in Kakashi a whole new round of energy.

* * *

Sakura was totally missing the point of Icha Icha. She always had.

Before, she made the mistake of just assuming it was just plotless porn with no depth, no meaning, and no real substance.

Gracefully, she conceded that she had been wrong. Then, in the same breath, she added that she was wrong in saying that _all_ of them were like that. Violence was brilliant. It was just the other two that were all of the above.

And Violence was brilliant, it was Kakashi's favorite, but he had to defend the honor of Paradise and Tactics. It was the principle of the thing.

"Midori was a way better character than Ayame or Kimiko," Sakura began, her eyes alight with the excitement he often saw in them when she was firing up for a good, long lecture. "Not only was she older than the age of sixteen, but she was genuinely fleshed out with real fears, real concerns, hopes, and dreams. She wasn't defined by the seduction missions that she was sent out on or the trysts she had while away from the village, but was instead entangled in the concerns of her clan and caught in a struggle between her own happiness and familial expectations. Her love interests were even more interesting than the other twos'. Not only were there only two of them as opposed to the countless dozens that the others had, but they were developed characters in their own right and they stood for the things kunoichi often feel they have to choose between when it comes to marriage. Saburo stood for the stability and safety, but also the confining nature of settling down, and Hikaru was the freedom and excitement and _danger_ of staying a kunoichi. Besides, the sex scenes were just better; not so drawn out and meaningful rather than just there to titillate the reader."

Sakura was inspecting her fingernails in a bored sort of way as she finished, frowning at her manicure and inspecting all of the little flaws, and apparently unaware of the fact that Kakashi was suddenly seeing her in an entirely different light.

"_Wow._ You really put a lot of thought into that."

"I told you I was _bored_." She flicked something invisible at him. "Kind of like now. Time for a new topic."

No, he was tempted to say. Keep talking. Because he could count on his hand the number of conversations he had had about Icha Icha that went beyond which sex scenes were the best. And all of those conversations had been with Jiraiya.

But he let it go. He'd have plenty of occasions to make his arguments. Besides, the smallest, niggling little thought had been tugging at the back of his mind all day and now, as the silence between them was interrupted only by the distant boom of fireworks, it surfaced at the forefront of his mind. "There was something Pakkun said earlier…"

Sakura looked to him then, eyes bright and curious but weary at his quieter, more serious tone. "What's that?"

"About your sewing kit. He said it was your mother's."

"Yeah, and?"

"_Was_. Past tense?"

She lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah."

"So, she either gave it to you or…?"

"She's gone?"

Kakashi frowned and looked over at her. "Which one?"

She had to be alive. He knew that he didn't _look_ like he paid much attention to anything, but he knew at least as much as Tsunade did when it came to village matters and he certainly knew what was going on in Sakura's life.

Or he thought he did. Pakkun making mention of the sewing kit's origins had, for whatever reason, struck him as odd. It wasn't that he thought Sakura had just materialized one day, but he had never given much thought to her family in the past and she had never made mention of them.

In fact, he had never given a thought to any part of her life that didn't include him and the boys and for whatever reason it tugged at his curiosity now.

Sakura smiled. "She's fine. The sewing kit was a present when I moved out a few years ago. She lives in the North district."

Kakashi took a breath, relieved, and nodded. "So, she's a civilian. What about your father?"

"He died when I was a little girl."

"I see."

Her smile softened a little, turning into the same, reassuring look that she gave her patients as she healed them. "Kakashi, you didn't overlook anything. You never met her because I never wanted you to."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

She snorted. "Well, for one thing I was never quite sure how to say, 'Mom, this is my teacher; yes, he wears that mask all the time and as a matter of fact that is porn in his hand' without her forcing me to quit being a ninja."

"You were embarrassed by me?" he asked, feinting pain at the suggestion and placing a hand to his chest.

"_Yes_," she replied emphatically. She looked down at her geta and then lifted her feet to inspect her pedicure. "For another, I wanted the part of my life that involved you and the boys and the part of my life with my mom and family to be separate. That just made things easier. Besides, I didn't think you'd want to be introduced anyway."

He blinked. "Why not?"

Sakura shrugged. "I thought it might be too personal. You've always been an 'at arm's length' kind of guy so I didn't think you'd be interested."

"Oh."

She glanced at him, frowning a little as she lowered her feet back to the roof, the wood soles of her shoes making hollow-sounding 'thunks' against the metal dome. "Don't sound all put-out," she scolded pointedly. "I don't know anything about _your_ private life; I haven't even seen your face! Sure, I know who your dad was, but that's only because of Chiyo-baasama. I figure that at some point you must've lost your eye—the scar indicates a wound—and you had to have known a member of the Uchiha clan to get the Sharingan replacement. To that end, you must've known one hell of a medic to do the surgery. Tsunade-sama says it wasn't her work and Shizune doesn't know anything about it. But all of that is secondhand knowledge and what I've observed. You know, if you weren't with me through the whole Sasuke thing, I'd have a dark, tragic past to _not_ talk about too but—"

"His name was Obito."

Sakura's mouth shut with an audible click and her green eyes went wide as she stared at him. "What? Whose name?"

Kakashi shifted, sitting up to drape his elbows over his knees. It came out on its own, but he knew now that he couldn't or he'd suffer some dire consequences. Damn, the day was really messing with his head. "Uchiha Obito," he clarified. "And the medic's name was Rin. They were my teammates under Namikaze Minato; they were with me on my first mission out as a Jonin."

Immediately, Sakura scooted closer to him and he chuckled at her eagerness. "Go on," she prompted.

Kakashi shook his head. "Tell me about your 'other life' first."

"No way." She grinned at him, wrapping her arms around her legs and placing her chin on her knees. "I've worked with you before, Hatake. If I answer your questions you'll just poof out of here and I'll never get _my_ answers. Talk."

It vaguely occurred to him again that she knew him too well.

He took a breath and then began, explaining to her everything he dared about his old teammates, about their time together and the similarities to Team Seven. Sakura was attentive, but had averted her stare to the distance as he did. She asked questions, but never pressed for answers if he ignored her, and her hand had found its way to the elbow resting on his right knee, warm and comforting and _there_. It was cathartic, an exorcism of sorts.

When he'd stop, she'd fill the silence with bits of her own past. Her father used to call her 'sweat pea' and brought her the flowers every Saturday, even during the winter when they were expensive and hard to get. He had been a Chuunin, nameless and unknown. When she was seven he died in the field. It was the first funeral she had ever attended. Her mother didn't get her life. She only let her join the academy because she thought the ninja thing was a 'phase' and that she'd quit in her own time. They got along, they were close even, but she couldn't talk about her job.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

Sakura pinched a fold of his sleeve in between her fingers thoughtfully. "What about Rin?"

"What happened with Obito affected us in different ways. She wanted to move on and block it out because it hurt too much, but I couldn't let it go that easily."

"Every one deals with trauma differently," she murmured, as if reciting the line from a text book.

Kakashi nodded. "Working together got hard. When she'd take risks—even necessary ones—it'd terrify me. I had no idea how to deal with that, so I'd get mad because I was still just a kid and then she'd get angry because she wasn't any less of a ninja than I was. After a while we just fought about everything. Minato eventually split us up and assigned us to different teams." He took a breath. "We stopped talking after that. She got married to some merchant and we just… drifted apart."

"What happened to her?"

He watched her fingers as they worried the rough cotton of his sleeve. "She died. Ten years ago today."

* * *

Sakura knew she had stepped out onto some sensitive territory now. She frowned at his elbow and then shook her head. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, her voice barely there. "How?"

"She went back behind enemy lines for a wounded teammate. Saved his life; lost hers."

Her eyes darted quickly to his again. "So… every year since then…?"

"I don't spend all day drowning myself in alcohol or blaming myself, because I know _that_ would make her angry too." A brief wry smile tugged at his mask and gently creased his eye. "I visit her grave. I have a drink with her husband when he's in town. I… just usually don't have the strength to do much else."

She knew how that felt. She and Naruto usually spent their own 'dark day' together, usually at her apartment. Hell if she could remember what they did, but it was the same thing. It was hard to move on days like that, hard to even breathe.

Sakura shook her head and buried her face in her knees. "If I'd of known, I'd of never bothered you about coming tonight," she said quietly. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-sensei."

His arm moved and her hand dropped. There was a pause and then she felt a familiar, warm palm on her head, but rather than ruffling her hair—he better damn well not, it had taken Tenten an hour to get it just-so—he just smoothed his hand over the carefully braided strands. It came to rest on the back of her neck. "I'm glad you did."

She turned her head slightly, toward Konoha rather than toward him. The fireworks had stopped some time ago, but she had stopped paying attention to them long before that. "Why?"

His hand pulled away, returning to rest on his knee. "When I'm alone long enough, I do start wondering if I could have helped. If I had been with her it might have moved faster; we might have been able to get out of there before the enemy tracked us down. But I know that that would just make her angry, because she made a choice and I'm second-guessing it. It would have made her mad to think that I missed the festival for her sake too. In truth, she would have wanted me to get over this a long time ago. She never believed in living in the past. That was just her way."

Sakura nodded and silence fell over them as the weight of what had just happened settled on them both.

At least half of her thousand questions had been answered while a few hundred more theories were confirmed or thrown out entirely. She felt infinitely closer to Kakashi and, at the same time, like she was sitting beside a total stranger. All that she had known, everything that she had assumed or guessed about him, didn't matter anymore because she knew the truth.

The truth. It was a powerful thing among ninja; it made allies, saved lives, destroyed villages. Nothing held so much weight as it did. It was what they sought with every interrogation and what drove them to fight. While others went to great lengths to bury it, they would spend hours on surveillance, on studying and scrutinizing details, trying to pick apart the facts from the lies, trying to uncover it.

God, how had this conversation start with an argument over porn?

"Careful. Your mascara will run."

His tone was light and teasing as one of his callused thumbs wiped away a tear she hadn't even felt until it was smeared over her cheek and then cooled by the breeze.

Sakura laughed quietly and spared him a look before dabbing carefully at her eyes, tracing her thumbs gently along her lower lids. "I'm sorry," she said quietly. "You know what a cry baby I can be."

He nodded. He had said too much already that night, so he wouldn't tell her what it meant to him that she would cry for his sake.

* * *

"Forehead, where the hell have you been? Get over here! Wait, who's that hot guy with—oops! Hi, Kakashi-sempai! You look really great in those clothes!"

Sakura cringed and smiled at the same time as she looked up to the man beside her. The crowds were thinning as everyone began to head home. They had spent the last half hour making their way slowly back from the tower, taking the abandoned side streets and talking quietly about Tactics versus Violence as they found the last remaining cranes homes in at least four mail boxes and three opened windows.

"I should get going before Pig says anything else embarrassing," she murmured.

Kakashi shrugged. "I need to get home and feed the dogs anyway."

Sakura nodded and then, despite her better judgment warning her that Ino could see them and would proceed to blow the whole thing completely out of proportion, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his middle.

There was a moment's worth of hesitation on his end before finally he slipped one arm around her shoulders and squeezed gently in return. "What's this for?" he asked with a huff of amusement.

Sakura smiled as she pulled away. "Nothing special. I just realized that I always hug Naruto and Sai, but I never hug you," she replied. "Thank you, for coming. And for… well, everything."

"The same."

"Forehead!"

"I'm coming, Pig!"

Sakura spared him a parting smile and then turned and ran off, hiking up the skirt of her yukata as she went.

Kakashi watched her until she rejoined her friends and then turned off in the other direction, raking one hand through his hair as he pulled Icha Icha out with the other. He flipped the little orange book opened and then paused as something slipped out from between the pages. He caught it deftly and canted his head to one side. A grin tugged at his lips.

He told himself later, at the same time that Sakura was grinning privately into her sake in a restaurant across town, that he'd make her run laps for touching his book. But all the same, the little paper bird found a place on his window sill.

"Not a word," he said to Pakkun, who was grinning at him knowingly from the bed.

* * *

1. (Excuse me while I launch my lifeboat. I'm drowning in fluff and word count here. If I don't make it, know that I love you all.)

2. Ah, better. Hope you guys enjoyed this. It's extra-long because my next update will definitely be delayed. Why? Because one of my teachers has insane expectations and I have to read a book, write a review, an annotated bibliography, and an essay about it before next week. Yay.

3. I could not resist my inner fangirl, okay? Kakashi would look damn hot in those clothes and I just couldn't help myself. Also, Asuma's and Kurenai's daughter would just be this blackhole of adorable and obnoxious and I couldn't resist giving her a scene, however brief.

4. Do I really think that Sakura would read Icha Icha? ... Um, yeah. I suppose I've always thought of them as being more romantic novels with extra emphasis on sex (not that they'd be all that far off from what you find at Barnes and Noble now anyway). I like the idea of making Kakashi a closet romantic rather than a straight-up pervert. Besides, for Sakura I imagine reading the sex scenes would be sort of like reading a comedy. All of that medical expertise critiquing the physical plausibility and anatomical accuracy. I'm not sure where people get off making her blush at every little mention of sex. "Prude" is a long way from "wilts at the mere thought of human intimacy" in my opinion.

5. Behold! My take on Sakura's family situation AND my take on what happened to Rin. I tried to avoid melodrama with both and I hope I did a fair enough job.

6. Sakura's hair is in a fishtail braid, by the way. Go google it. I couldn't find a good place to mention that without it coming off as totally out of place.

7. Sakura just out-ninja'd Kakashi. Yeah, that's not possible, but it was cute at least, wasn't it?

**(Oh, side note. A few people emailed me about fanart. Go for it. These characters aren't mine and the thought of it kinda makes me all giddy like a five-year-old. Now, go review!)**


	9. In Which There are Realizations

**House Calls**

**Chapter 9**

**Note:** I swear the chapters are going to get shorter at some point... just not yet.**  
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* * *

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Sakura's favorite sound in the world was the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves. That soft, soothing hiss of leaves and limbs swaying and shivering was like a lullaby. It was the sound of home, of being in Konoha. She listened as she picked at a ball of fuzz off of her white, canvas shorts. Her red top was cropped shorter and better fitted and left partially unzipped over a fishnet shirt while her belt and pouches hung cock-eyed on her hips.

"It seems that they're trying to box us in," Hinata said quietly. She was standing just beside Sakura, wearing a white, long-sleeved tunic that folded in the front like a kimono and was held closed by a lavender-colored sash. It just brushed her knees, just over the hem of her dark pants. "Kiba-kun and Akamaru from the north, Lee-san from the west, Naruto-kun from the south, and Shikamaru-san from the east."

Ino chuckled as she propped her hand against the tree trunk, standing on the branch above the two. Her purple top was cut asymmetrically with just one shoulder strap while the other shoulder was wrapped to the elbow by the mesh of her undershirt that stretched down to cover her otherwise bare midriff. Her black leggings were snug and form-fitting, cinched above her knees while the split-sided skirt she wore over them just grazed her mid-thigh. "Tch, so they're falling for this? Silly boys."

"Better be careful anyway. Shikamaru's with them so they might be banking on us thinking that they're trying to box us in when they've got another plan up their sleeves," Tenten added, standing on a branch on the other side of the tree. Her dark blue blouse fit her loosely and was tucked into a pair of matching, equally loose-fitting trousers. "Hinata, how many clones does Naruto have with him?"

"About twenty," the Hyuuga replied.

The weapon's mistress grinned as she pulled two scrolls from the pouches at her waist. "Sounds like target practice to me," she said. "I'll take care of him."

"Ino, you should focus on Kiba and Akamaru," Sakura advised.

Ino grinned. "One mind-screw coming up."

The two darted off in opposite directions with just the snap of their clothes and the rustle of leaves noting their departure.

"So, that leaves Lee and Shikamaru," Sakura murmured. "Flip a coin?"

Hinata chuckled softly. "Lee-san will be too well-acquainted with my fighting style because of his years spent with Neji for me to effective and I will be able to more easily evade Shikamaru-san's shadow technique with aid of my Byakugan."

"Good point," the medic replied, pulling her gloves from her back pocket and slipping them on carefully. "Do you want to do lunch later?"

"Hanabi is expected to arrive home today from her first mission with Neji and I have plans to dine with them, but I would be very happy if you would join me this afternoon for tea," Hinata said, her hands folded neatly behind her back. She smiled. "I have located some files that you may find very interesting."

Sakura brightened. "That sounds great. Four-ish?"

"Perfect," the Hyuuga agreed with a smile. "We had better go now. They're closing in very quickly."

Sakura nodded and departed.

* * *

"Hi, Lee-kun!"

Lee, who had paused momentarily on a branch, looked up and then quickly dodged to the right as Sakura came down at him from above, one foot extended.

She plowed through the tree trunk easily, like a human wrecking ball. Wood splinters fell around her as she severed the tree in half and her pink hair settled neatly around her shoulders as she landed lightly on her feet. To her left the treetop crashed into the ground and, to her right, Lee appeared, crouching.

"Loveliest Sakura-san!" he greeted cheerfully as he flashed a blinding smile. "How are you?"

Sakura laughed as she wove her fingers together and stretched her arms up over her head. "I'm all right," she replied, "Although, I'm with Shikamaru in thinking that this was maybe a bit too early to practice maneuvers. What about you? We haven't talked in a while."

He positively glowed at this. "I'm doing exceptionally well. Would you like a moment to complete your stretches? We shouldn't begin until you have had the chance to—" He disappeared in a blur at the same time that Sakura's fist came at him and then reappeared several paces off to her right, smiling. "Wonderful, Sakura-san! I can see that your speed has improved considerably since the last we sparred together. I almost didn't dodge that!"

The girl smiled as she tightened her gloves again. "You know, if you were anyone else, Lee, I would think you were mocking me," she said, lifting her fists as she took a step back into a fighting stance.

Lee smiled back and they both lunged, meeting somewhere in the middle. She bent backwards to avoid the sweep of his leg at her head and then performed a back handspring to right herself. His momentum carried him in a full circle and he lifted his other leg for another kick. She caught his ankle easily and swiftly knocked his supporting leg out from under him. He used the fall to his advantage, crumbling to the ground gracefully and jerking the foot she held quickly forward to throw her off balance.

Sakura let out a yip of laughter and, rather than allowing him to drag her to the ground, she used his foot as a springboard to tumble heels over head over him.

Lee rolled again to his hands and knees, watching as she turned a few more consecutive somersaults and then chased after her.

* * *

_Roundhouse._

Dodge.

_Backhand._

Duck.

_Leg-sweep._

Jump.

Well, if nothing else Sakura was most _definitely_ getting her cardio-workout in today. No wonder Tenten was so confident that she could keep up with Naruto—clones and all. Keeping up with Lee was a little like trying to run a marathon flat-out. Keeping up with Lee and Gai had to be downright impossible. She let out a snort of laughter mid-dodge at the thought that maybe "youthful energy" increased with proximity to Gai.

Sakura came abruptly back to reality when Lee easily caught her wrist after a sluggishly thrown punch and then gently tugged her forward, pulling her out of her fighting stance. He smiled as he reached out to steady her with his other hand. "Would you like to take a break, Sakura-san? You seem to be having trouble focusing today."

She blinked at him and then smiled. "I'm sorry, Lee. Yeah, a break would probably be good right about now."

"No need to apologize," he replied, frowning slightly as he dropped her hand. "I hope you're feeling well."

Sakura shrugged and mindlessly reached out to heal his swelling cheek, while taking a moment to also congratulate her self on actually landing a hit. After all, Lee was, without a doubt, unmatched when it came to hand-to-hand combat. "I'm just tired," she said. "I've been busy the last few days. There's been people coming and going at all hours."

"Your dedication to your job is inspiring, Sakura-san," Lee said evenly but his brow began to furrow with worry as he added, "However, I think it's possible that you are working too hard."

The girl laughed. "Must be bad if you're saying that, Lee."

He smiled back. "I am only concerned for you, Sakura-san."

Sakura opened her mouth to reply when a familiar voice beat her to it. "Mah, Sakura-chan, I think that's called fraternizing with the enemy."

There was something to add to her to-do list: Punch Kakashi. Or at the very least smack him.

"Indeed! Lee, you must not allow yourself to be distracted by your opponent's youthful beauty! Also, good morning Sakura-san!"

Sakura's eyes narrowed as they shifted to Kakashi and Gai, who were watching from the nearby tree line. The former was half-slumped against the nearest oak, his shoulders curled forward and his hands in his pockets as he regarded them lazily. Beside him Gai was… well, being _Gai_ with his chest puffed, arms akimbo, head high, and smiling brightly enough to guide ships in to port.

"Good morning, Gai-senpai and thank you," she called back. "What are you two doing here?"

"We were drawn in by the display of our young teammates' youthful vigor!" Gai's smile was bright enough to blind and Sakura considered asking him what kind of whitener he used to achieve that particular sparkle.

"We were passing by," Kakashi replied much more evenly with an eye-crinkle.

Kakashi would've been visiting the cenotaph, Sakura thought with a glance at the Sun, which had just begun to clear the tops of the tree in the east. A particular weight settled over her heart. He had explained the little ritual to her the night of the festival and she _still_ felt guilty for all of the years she had yelled at him for being so late for everything.

And Gai… well, she wouldn't have been surprised to hear that the man lived on the training grounds. Or maybe he could just hear youthful vigor from a mile away. It was a tough call.

"Sakura-san."

She looked quickly to Lee, her brows furrowing slightly at his lowered voice, because Lee speaking quietly was certainly something to pay attention to. But then she caught the conspiring look in his eye and the slight tip of his head as he indicated the two older Jonin. "Perhaps we should demonstrate for our teachers our youthfulness. Then, if I'd happen to allow my youthfulness to cause me to follow Gai-sensei outside of the designated boundaries of this exercise, you would win and there would be no need for this spar to continue keeping you from your rest."

A small grin curled over her lips. "I've never heard such a gracefully worded surrender," she murmured. "Sounds like a plan."

Across the field, she saw Kakashi's eye narrowing as he watched them. "Gai, do me a favor," he began, "Don't encourage my teammate's youthful vigor anymore."

Gai simply grinned like a maniac in response and at that moment Lee and Sakura both vanished, mere blurs as they moved. Sakura reappeared in front of the two older men and both leapt away as she drilled on chakra-shrouded fist into the earth, shattering the ground that had been beneath their feet and uprooting the trees around them. The sound of overturning rocks and groaning, snapping branches just barely drowned out Gai's loud approval of such a display of youth and power.

Okay, so he was strange, obnoxious, and sometimes made her grateful that Kakashi's quirks were _just_ the porn-in-public thing and the perpetual tardiness, but Gai's compliments did mean a lot to her. He was a powerful, well-respected shinobi. The manly tears and enthusiasm (a word that she had long since decided was not adequate to describe him or Lee) couldn't take away from that. Not to mention, his praises were more easily won than Tsunade's or Kakashi's and she appreciated the little boost to her ego every now and then.

"Good morning, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as she landed on a jutting pire of rock positioned just above the one that Kakashi was crouched upon. Gai and Lee had darted off, moving deeper into the woods, whooping and shouting challenges at each other as they went, likely to wake the whole village now that they were together.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan. What are you doing out here so early?" he asked, straightening and tucking his hands into his pockets. "The springtime of youth get to you?"

Sakura grinned and shook her head. "Not exactly. Three cranky Chuunin showed up last night covered from head-to-toe in poison ivy; I'd still be in bed if I had a choice."

Kakashi looked vaguely amused. "If you had a choice? Want to tell your old sensei all about it?"

She rolled her eyes. "You know no one from my generation can do anything as boring as go out to dinner together without drama ensuing. In short: the boys started talking at dinner about women paying less attention to their combat training because they tend to get sent out on information-gathering jobs."

"Yes, that's exactly the topic I'd pick when sitting with four of Konoha's best kunoichi."

"I know, right? But, hey, they're idiots so we were willing to dismiss it. Well, Ino, Hinata, and I were, but Tenten wasn't and because Gai can't help but leave a mark she issued a challenge to the boys that was basically the adult equivalent of, 'Girls are better than boys, na-na-na-boo-boo'."

Unveiled mirth at her expense sparkled in his visible gray eye. "Well, I hope the boys didn't take _that_ sort of language sitting down."

Sakura kicked a bit of rock at him. "No, they didn't. She made sure to call them all out personally too so that Kiba and Shikamaru would be properly motivated to come. And here we are."

Kakashi hummed and tipped his head back to scratch his masked chin. "So, back there? Did you really want to spar?"

"Nope. I was just escaping the spar on a technicality."

He hummed softly. "So does that mean you lost?"

"Nope. Lee submitted to my youthful beauty and bowed out." She smiled. "I going to go home now and cook myself breakfast in celebration. Want to tag along?"

Kakashi chuckled. "Certainly. I'm always more than happy to celebrate a teammates' victory with them."

* * *

It wasn't awkward.

It wasn't awkward or weird or difficult or _anything_ like Kakashi had expected it to be.

Sakura had been busy in the days following the festival, so he hadn't seen her except for in passing when Naruto would insist on dropping by her place to ask her to spar with them. She had simply smiled, explained that she had a ton of work to do with Tsunade, and then departed.

A part of Kakashi had begun to wonder if she was avoiding him. Yes, Sakura was _always_ busy, but it had been a long time since she was too busy to even train with him, Naruto, and Sai. It made him worry if telling her about his past had been a mistake. Maybe it had been too personal. Maybe she didn't know how to act around him anymore. Maybe—

Kakashi jerked his copy of Paradise automatically out of reach once he sensed the hand coming in to grab it and narrowed his eye at a rather annoyed looking Sakura, who was walking on his left as they made their way to her house. The streets were still relatively empty at this early hour, but they earned a few friendly waves and nods from the shopkeepers as they passed. "You already owe me thirty laps around the village for touching it before," he said in the same voice he had used to control Team Seven back in the day.

Sakura looked completely unfazed as she lowered her hand back to her side. "So, like I was saying, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to train with you and the boys lately. It's just been really hectic around here. You know how we always have an influx of missions during the warm months, so consequently I've had an influx of patients."

So, mind-reading was to be added on to his list of things he never knew Sakura capable of, right below her apparent ability to see through walls when the sanctity of her desserts was in question.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "Did the hospital completely shut down and I wasn't informed?"

Sakura smirked. "Or you'd of thrown a party, right? No, the hospital is just fine, even without me around."

"Then why so busy? I just thought you just tended to the older Jonin? And apparently Chuunin with rashes birthed from angry plants…"

She chuckled. "Well, think about it. You come back from a mission and your options are: go to the hospital, wait three hours for them rub some antiseptic on your cuts, and then clear your bill of health or…?"

"Or go see you and be done in five minutes," Kakashi finished with a nod. "Of course."

It seemed that the younger generation wasn't as dense as he had thought. They seemed to think a lot like he did.

"Thirty laps," the girl suddenly scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Didn't you at least like the crane?"

Kakashi glanced down at her and nodded. "I did."

"I bet you threw it away."

"I did no such thing. It's enjoying a very nice view from my window sill."

Sakura looked surprised, but grinned nonetheless.

* * *

"Feet off the coffee table, Genma. And do you have any idea how bad chewing on those things is for your teeth?"

Kakashi chuckled to himself. Sakura's medic-mode reared its head with the same unpredictability that Sakura's temper did.

The Jonin batted Sakura's hand away as she leaned over the back of the couch and reached out to take his senbon away. "Pinkie, just comfort yourself with the idea that it isn't a cigarette and let my dentist worry about my teeth." He leaned back a little further and lifted a hand in a casual wave. "Yo, Kakashi. How's it going?"

"Pretty good," Kakashi said, surveying the room lazily as he leaned against the wall. "What are you doing here?"

"We just got back from a courier run to Suna and Raidou fucked up his leg real bad on the way back," Genma noted lazily. His eyes turned on Sakura. "He's back in the laundry room."

She nodded but didn't make a move to leave. Instead, she reached forward, laying one thumb under his right eye and pulling the lid down a little. The Jonin snorted at her, but didn't make any argument as she examined him carefully. "You didn't come back to check with me about your collarbone," she said.

"That must mean I went to the hospital, like you said I should."

"Or it means that you're lying to me and you didn't do either." She reached for one of his hands and examined his fingernails.

Genma seemed rather amused. "Very possible. Which one do you think it is? After all, I've been cleared for missions."

"Given that _smart_ men don't ignore me…" Sakura trailed off. She plucked his senbon from his mouth with deft ease and before he could protest she placed her other hand on his chin and pulled his bottom lip down with her thumb. She hummed and then handed the metal needle back before crossing her arms. "Well, you look like you've recovered from the blood loss. Now I'm going to go check on Raidou-san's ankle and then I'm going to check your collarbone."

He pouted at that. "Nice backhand there, Pinkie," he grumbled. He looked to Kakashi and lifted an eyebrow. "What are you in for?"

The Copy-Nin smiled back. "Breakfast."

* * *

Sakura grinned upon entering the kitchen. "Ah. So _you're_ the clean freak."

Yamashiro Aoba, who was standing at the kitchen sink, jumped and nearly dropped the soapy plate in his hands before sparing the kunoichi an almost sheepish look. "Hey, Sakura-san. You don't mind, right?"

"Oh, yes. I just hate it when people come in and do my dishes for me," she scoffed as she leaned in the doorframe. "It's a pet peeve of mine."

He laughed at that and ran the plate under water. "Oh? You get that often, do you?"

Sakura grinned and patted him on the shoulder as she passed him by, moving to the laundry room door. Working at the Hokage tower and being Tsunade's apprentice (and therefore messenger) had lent her to making acquaintances of most of the Jonin that could be found there, which apparently came in handy. "I appreciate it, Aoba-san," she said warmly.

"I think it's the least I can do. We certainly come by regularly enough."

"You're never unwelcome. By the way, if you and Genma stick around after I put Raidou back together, I can make breakfast. Then you can wash those dishes."

"Hm, sounds tempting, but—"

"Aoba, I swear to the Hokages that if you keep her out there a second longer, I'm going to take your glasses and shove them up your nose!"

"I'll be right there, Raidou-san!" Sakura called. She looked to Aoba and shook her head. "His leg must really be hurting him."

"He did quite a number on it," Aoba agreed. "You'd better get in there."

Sakura nodded and could barely suppress her smile as she greeted Raidou in the back room. She wasn't happy that he was injured, that bone was slightly visible and that there was blood dripped all over the floor. She wasn't happy that her home was hardly _hers_ anymore, but rather just the community gathering spot for the wounded and the bored. She wasn't happy that she was slowly feeling like _everyone's_ mother.

But, nevertheless, she did rather like it.

"You know that itches, right?"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow at Raidou. "What?"

"Healing," he muttered, gesturing to her hands as they held his battered leg. "It always itches."

"Really? I've heard it described as 'minty' feeling."

Raidou lifted his head from the cot to raise an eyebrow at her. "How the hell does something _feel_ minty?"

Sakura laughed. "I actually have no idea."

* * *

Sakura sat on her kitchen cupboard, grinning helplessly from ear-to-ear as she dried the freshly washed plates Aoba was handing her.

Genma and Raidou were arguing about something in the living room as they threw senbon at a target she kept on the wall (for those times when she really, _really_ needed to throw something). A battered Naruto, a nauseous Kiba (with Akamaru at his feet), a chakra-sealed Shikamaru, and a still very energetic Lee and Gai were gathered around the small breakfast table with the girls, everyone talking loudly over each other and Gai gamely refereed the arguments between the boys.

"Something funny?"

Kakashi was on her right, slumped against the cupboard and reading. She shook her head, unable to wipe the smile from her face. "Not really. I'm just…" She paused, surveyed her friends and her smile widened exponentially. Moments like these weren't rare. The war had forged friendships between them all, permanently and inextricably bonding the Konoha Eleven together as comrades and, in a strange way, family. But she knew better, maybe better than ever before after the festival, than to take these moments, however frequent, for granted. "I'm just happy."

His visible eye moved from her to lazily scan the gathering. Then he nodded and looked back to his book.

* * *

"You're not reading."

Kakashi frowned at Sakura's back. "No, I'm not."

Everyone had departed some time ago, leaving Sakura's house strangely quiet and still except for the medic, who was finishing the last of the dishes. She spared him a look over her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Knew him too damn well.

Kakashi hesitated. It felt like he should say something; that he _had_ to say something about what had happened at the festival. Except, if it had bothered Sakura, it wasn't showing. In fact, everything was business as usual between them and he was left just staring at her back as she worked, wondering why it felt like he had to make excuses for himself.

"Kakashi-sensei?" She had turned to face him, frowning as she dried the last plate with her weight leaned back into the cupboard. "Is there something wrong?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, actually. Is there?"

A pink eyebrow lifted. "You know, when you got all cryptic and mysterious on me as a kid it usually meant something bad was about to happen," she pointed out. She sat the dish aside and then lightly hopped up onto the cupboard behind her. "What's going on?"

Kakashi sighed, reclining back in the kitchen chair. "Are we all right?"

The eyebrow steadily climbed higher. "In what context? Did you do something I should've punched you for?"

"No." He rubbed uneasily at the back of his neck and gave her a strained look. It would be handy if she'd just read his mind about now. "What we talked about at the festival…"

Sakura blinked at him and then her expression fell into a thoughtful frown. "What about it?"

"I don't want it to change… things."

Things. Yes. Hatake Kakashi was a true wordsmith. However, Sakura seemed far, far less bothered by the topic than him and even snorted in amusement and threw her dishrag at his head. "Like what? You're still the same man I've known for seven years. I just know you a little better now." She crossed her arms and cocked her hips. "Why? Was telling me _that_ weird?"

Yes. Yes it was. But… at the same time it wasn't. It was strange only in the novelty of talking to someone about it. The fact that it had been Sakura seemed… natural.

"I just didn't want you to see me differently."

Sakura smiled. "Well, you still look the same to me. Speaking of which, I need you to pop my back."

Kakashi huffed in amusement. "How is that a 'speaking of which'?"

"It just _is_," she replied peevishly. "Come here."

He rolled his eye at her and got up from his seat as she turned her back on him and folded her arms around herself so that her hands cupped their opposing shoulder. "Why don't you ever ask Naruto to do this?"

"Because he isn't tall enough."

"Then ask Gai."

"I need my back popped, not broken."

A fair point, he'd concede. Sakura was nothing if not petite—something that seemed to be exaggerated now as he stood over her—and Gai was nothing if not overly zealous.

"And I know you're only complaining about this to annoy me."

Kakashi pouted and wrapped his arms around her, clasping his hands over her elbows, which overlapped in front of her. "I'm offended at the suggestion. Why would I ever cause my teammate undue distress?"

Sakura snorted at him. "Because you're _you_."

He decided not to dignify that with a response and lifted her easily; pulling her back against his chest as he did so and leaning back slightly. He cringed as her spine cracked loudly in several places and then set her gently back down. "I hate that noise," he muttered as she turned to face him and he wrapped his arms around her again and pulled her against him as if giving her a bear hug, squeezing gently. Another crack. "Are you sure that's healthy?"

Sakura gave him her "six years of medical training and field experience and you're questioning me?" look and he quickly averted his gaze. "Besides, you have no right to complain," she said with a poke to his sternum. "You get free massages from me all the time."

"That's physical therapy," he argued, watching her carefully as she slid her arms around his middle in return and then gently squeezed. His spine crackled in response and he might have cringed at the sound if it hadn't felt so good.

"It is not," she said. "I'd _never_ give you physical therapy."

"And why is that?"

Her fingers were working their way up his back, tracing his ribs, and he grunted when she found a particularly sore spot. "Because you'd whine too much about all the work involved." A bit of pressure and another pop ensued, which hurt nearly as much as her prodding had and Kakashi flinched a little. "Sorry." Warmth raced to the spot from her hand. "You had a rib out. How's that feel?"

"Better."

"You should've told me."

"I thought I was just sore."

Sakura shrugged this off and her hands continued their methodical search and Kakashi could do little but stare down at the top of her very pink head. Which smelled vaguely like spices. Huh, a new shampoo.

For whatever reason, his mind hopped onto this random train of thought (there was little else he could do as Sakura had fully switched to medic mode) and began taking inventory of the girl in front of him. Her shoulders felt unduly slight and delicate under his hands and she was as light as ever when he had lifted her (maybe lighter; he'd have to mention that later). It was certainly a contrast to what she was capable of, a fact that seemed to endlessly amaze her opponents in battle, which he found rather useful. Rare was the man who would look at the pretty, pink-haired young woman with the Copy-Nin and think, "now she's the one I have to watch".

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

Sakura glanced up at him as her hands continued to search for things to fix along his ribs. "Why did you think it'd bother me?"

Kakashi saw her furrowed brow and knew that he had to tread lightly. Somehow he had offended her. "I don't know."

"Did you think that I'd pity you and then you'd be nothing but the sad, old guy I worked with?" she pressed. A little pain; another pop.

He cringed slightly at hearing the words so, yes, he suspected that that had everything to do with it. Mind-reading. He'd have to find a way to copy that someday. "I suppose."

Sakura looked up at him again as she took a step back, her hands settling on his waist. "Kakashi, there's a reason I'm on your team. You know the boys and I had a choice."

"I know."

"Well, why did you think I chose to stay? It's obviously not because you're the most punctual or personable team leader a girl could have." She smiled a little. Hesitantly, he noted. "You know my background. You know everything that happened on Team Seven; everything about Sasuke and everything about how I used to feel for him. How I felt even after he betrayed us, even after… everything. I think you were one of the only people who never told me that I was insane or tried to talk me out of it. You let me figure it out for myself. Does any of that change how you see me?"

Kakashi shook his head. "No."

And it wasn't even because he always saw her as being in love with Sasuke. It was because she was always Sakura: reliable, skilled, ill-tempered Sakura who loved her teammates more than her own life and would gladly fight it out with anyone to prove it.

"Nothing's changed, Kakashi," she said firmly with a familiar scowl. "You miss your teammates. If anything, I respect you a little more because of that, because of how you've endured." Then, as an afterthought or maybe to break the tension, she added, "And you're not _old_. By the First, I hope _I'm _not old when I'm your age."

Kakashi smiled at this, appreciating the stroke to his ego that Sakura wasn't very wont to give most days. Her hands ran up his front, prodding him through his shirt, but he paid them little mind as he watched her expression, the furrow of her brow and the way she pursed her lips. It was a familiar look, one that she usually wore when she was struggling with something internally.

"You never answered my question," she said at length.

"What question?"

Sakura frowned and slipped a hand under his shirt, running it up his ribs and pressing a chakra-warmed palm to his left side. Another pop. "Was it _that_ weird to tell me about yourself?"

He shrugged. "You're the only person I've ever told," he answered, scratching at his chin. "Well, you and Gai."

"_Gai_ knows?" she demanded.

"We go back a long way."

She eyed him skeptically for some time before laughing. "You'll have to tell me _that_ story someday too." Her hands slipped free of his shirt and then gently smoothed the fabric back into place. "There. Done."

Kakashi watched the furrow of her brow deepen a little and tipped his head to one side. "What's that look for?"

"I was just thinking about something."

He followed her as she slipped silently out of the kitchen and moved to her bedroom. "What about?"

Sakura spared him a look as she pulled clothes out of her dresser drawer. "I… I don't… ugh…"

"I love it when a woman is articulate."

If she had had a kunai, it would have surely been making its way at his head right about then. Although, Kakashi wasn't sure if he would have dodged. _Woman_. Damn if that wasn't the first time he had used that word to describe Sakura.

"It isn't important."

She was one now, he supposed. Nineteen. No doubt there were Genin running around calling her senpai.

"I'm probably thinking about it too much."

And, the one unfortunate time he had gotten hospitalized in the last year or so he had heard the other medics calling her sensei. In another year or so, with her being a Jonin now, she might very well take on her own team of Genin.

The thought made him frown a little. If she took on her own team of brats, she wouldn't be on his team anymore.

That thought bothered him. A lot. More, he realized, that the thought of Naruto or Sai leaving his team. Sakura was his go-to option for his second on a two-man mission and his chosen partner when they had to split up on four-man jobs. If she took on a Genin squad, that'd change.

"I mean, I like it that we're friends now. But sometimes… I suppose I feel guilty because I feel like I butt in on your life."

Kakashi came back to reality at that and blinked at her. "You do."

"Oh thanks," she snapped, scowling at him. "I've got to meet with Tsunade and deliver all of my medical reports for the last few days. I'll see you later, Kakashi."

He reached out to stop the door from closing on him, his hand grasping the edge of the door above hers as he shifted to stand directly in front of her. "Sakura."

To be obstinate—if there was ever a word to describe Sakura that was it—she refused to meet his eyes, but she didn't attempt to slam the door on him. That was a good sign.

"Sakura," he said a bit more firmly.

With her mouth twisted unattractively, she looked to him and lifted her eyebrows in impatient askance.

"I don't mind."

Sakura's frown deepened. "What?"

Kakashi smiled at her, squeezing his eye happily. "I don't mind. If I did, you'd know. Trust me."

The girl stared at him for a long time, her features slowly softening until a small smile was pulling at the corner of her lip. "Okay." She swept her hair back behind her ears quickly and glanced back into her room. "But I do really have to get going to meet Tsunade-sama."

He nodded and stepped back out of the door. "I'll walk with you."

"That's nice of you, Kakashi, but you don't—"

"No, I probably should. I had a meeting with Tsunade at eight this morning and it's—" he leaned slightly so that he could see her alarm clock—"going on noon. If I walk in with you I stand a better chance of surviving the meeting."

Sakura of seven years ago would have scowled and huffed and scolded him. This one simply shook her head. "Just give me a second to change my clothes."

Kakashi saluted her and moved to settle down on her couch, pulling Paradise out of his back pocket. He sat down to read, trying to ignore the strange feeling tugging at the back of his mind. It would nag at him the whole day now; the feeling that something _had_ actually changed between them, that something was different.

But, on his way to the Hokage tower, he realized that the reserve he usually felt when talking to others, even to people he had known all of his life, wasn't there with Sakura anymore. He was… relaxed.

And, oddly, that made him very, very nervous.

* * *

1. I love you guys.

2. ... Yeah, that's the only note.

3. Seriously. I have nothing else to add.

4. So, I've been browsing the fanfiction pages lately and doing some reading. ... ... Cue rant: RAGERAGERAGE I hate stories that have Kakashi look at Sakura, realize she's attractive, and then that somehow triggers in him this realization that he's deeply, deeply in love with her. THAT IS NOT REAL LOVE OR ROMANCE! It's not even a very flattering portrayal of the poor guy. Oh and don't get me started on the stories that have someone like Kakashi or Itachi lock their sights on Sakura and then procede to stalk her and otherwise advance and antagonize (NOT WOO) her in ways that she makes clear she does NOT welcome, AND THEN SHE FALLS IN LOVE WITH THEM OH MY GOD ARE YOU GUYS COMPLETELY MENTAL? What the hell is wrong with these writers! And Sakura inevitably realizes that she doesn't want them to stop stalking her. ... _WHY_? How does she draw that conclusion? At what point did he give her a reason to begin feeling that way? Just because he's hot? Is it just because he's just always there and she realizes that she's become dependent on seeing him because THAT'S STOCKHOLM'S SYNDROME LOOK IT UP! PUT DOWN TWILIGHT AND READ SOME FREAKIN' JANE AUSTEN PEOPLE!

5. ... ... I love Gai and Lee. I hope I portrayed them as delightfully flamboyant and yet not obnoxious as is possible.

6. And I brought in Genma again because you guys really seemed to enjoy that. Aoba and Raidou seemed like natural additions as well and they're two good reasons why I kind of like severely underdeveloped background characters: you can do whatever you want with them.

7. By the way, she was checking Genma for signs of anemia. The inside of your eyelids, your gums, and the beds of your fingernails will appear white or pale if you're anemic. Also, why were they on a courier mission? ... 'Cause I said so.

8. Yeah, the "pop my back" scene came in out of no where, but I figured it allowed for some interaction that wasn't the "sit around and stare at each other" type. My family and I do this anyway. Both are legitimate ways to go about popping your back safely too (my chiropractor showed me). Besides, I liked the idea of having a scene like that between the two of them. I imagine that for Kakashi that would require a lot of trust. Your spine probably isn't something you naturally entrust to just anyone as a ninja.

9. No, my homework isn't done. Yes, it's due in a few days. Yes, this chapter breaks the record for word count.

10. This semester is gonna blow.

**(All right, I will address the above rant, specifically that last bit because that's a hot button issue around the internet:I did read Twilight. I read approximately one chapter. Then my skin began to burn, I began to lose vision in my right eye, and I found myself running out of Barnes and Noble screaming. I came to several hours later, hugging my Oscar Wilde and Jane Austen collections while curled up in the fetal position in my bedroom, quietly promising them that I would avenge their art.)**

**(... Yeah, I'm going to ask you to review now. Remember that you love me, right?)**

**(... Here, have some cheese.)**

**(Seriously, the above comments are said in total earnest, but I respect you if you like that series. I do. You see something in it that makes your heart flutter. I might not understand it, but then if you'd check out my favorite stories list and you might not understand my particular fascination with the couples contained therein. To each their own, as they say.)**

**(... But seriously, go review now.)  
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	10. In Which There are Happenings

**House Calls**

**Chapter 10**

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Note: **There was a problem with uploading. If anything is off, let me know.**  
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"How's that feel?"

"Odd."

"Painful?"

"No, just strange."

Sakura hummed softly and shifted a little to get comfortable. She and Hinata sat facing one another, the tea things set off to one side on the low table, and her hands hovering beside the Hyuuga's temples, her fingers glowing. "What about that?"

"Ticklish."

"Hm, Neji and Hanabi said the same thing."

"Does it tell you much?"

Sakura smiled and lowered her hands to her lap. "It tells me that I'm getting to know the structure of your eyes rather well, but nothing more than that, I'm afraid."

Hinata opened her eyes and blinked a few times. "Is there anything I can do to help?" she wondered. "I could activate my Byakugan again."

"No, I think we've done enough today. I don't want you to strain your eyes," the medic replied as she sat back on her heels with a sigh. She smiled. "Thank you so much, Hinata. I really appreciate this."

"I don't mind. I enjoy being a part of your work; the clan is very interested in the results," the Hyuuga girl replied with a gentle smile. "And I'm glad to hear that Neji-kun and Hanabi-chan are cooperating with you. It would be very gratifying if we were able to help you help Kakashi-senpai."

Sakura stretched her arms up over her head, popping her shoulders in the process. "Well, if you can help me figure out how to fix his Sharingan, I may very well cause a horrible scandal and kiss all three of you."

Hinata laughed at that. "Well, a scandal would make things more interesting," she said optimistically. The smile fell from her lips slowly though at the pensive look came upon the pink-haired medic's face. She frowned, prettily. "Is everything all right, Sakura?"

"Oh? Oh, yes. Everything's just fine. I was just wondering… well, it doesn't matter."

"Tell me anyway."

Sakura smiled sheepishly as she pulled her hair free of its tie. "I feel rude even bringing it up."

"Sakura, I like to think we're good enough friends that you can't offend me," Hinata admonished gently. "What is it?"

The medic shifted uneasily. She didn't have a clan, so clan politics had always been sort of outside of her field of experience. Ino tried once to explain it as, "Like normal family drama multiplied by pride multiplied by nine thousand."

"When I first had the idea of researching the Byakugan in order to better understand how the Sharingan worked, I approached Tsunade. She seemed to think that the Hyuuga elders would take issue with it. I know that clans are always very protective of their secrets, especially ones revolving around their Kekkei Genkai." Sakura took a breath and spared her friend an uneasy look. "I suppose I was just surprised that this has all been going so smoothly. I knew you'd be willing to help, but… I don't know. I expected the Elders to give you trouble."

Hinata nodded as she gestured Sakura back to the small tea table and they both sat down at it. "They tried," she said finally.

"Tried?"

"Yes." She reached for the tea pot and poured a fresh cup for them both. "But they had no choice in the matter. The Hyuuga clan is changing. As Konoha has been reborn since the war, so has this clan. That doesn't please the Elders, to say the least."

"That… that must be hard," Sakura murmured, frowning into her teacup. "It doesn't bother you?"

Hinata shook her head as she stirred some honey into her tea. "I was actually relieved when Father determined that Hanabi would be the better heir all those years ago. However, since she has decided to dedicate her life entirely to being a ninja, Father had few other options. I'm not one for politics or confrontation, as you know, but… but if I can change the way this clan works for the better, it's worth it. If I must risk the chance of _never_ winning the Elders' approval I suppose then that is the price."

A smile curled slowly over the medic's lips. "I don't know if I would ever have the courage to do that kind of thing."

"I don't," the other girl admitted with a small laugh. "But some things are more important."

Neji and Hanabi for example, Sakura thought with a growing smile. Hinata was not a bold person by any stretch of the imagination, but her timid nature never got the better of her desire to protect, to defend. It was what she admired about the girl.

"Hinata?"

"Hm?"

"In your own way, you are quite the hard-ass."

The girl let out an almost startled laugh at this and then averted her gaze as she smiled shyly. "Thank you, Sakura," she murmured. "Sugar?"

Sakura opened her mouth to accept when a commotion in the hallway alerted them both and they turned toward the screen just as it was slid open and Kiba barged in with Akamaru. A scowling Neji was close behind, his eyes trained on the back of the Inuzuka's head.

"I told him that you were busy," the older Hyuuga practically growled.

Kiba glared back, his lip curling slightly. "Oi, Hinata's never too busy for her teammates! Besides, it's just Sakura."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she lifted her tea to her lips. "Thanks, Kiba," she muttered.

Hinata smiled apologetically and then got to her feet to face the boys. "It's all right, Neji," she said as her cousin fell in beside her. "We were just enjoying our tea."

Neji looked skeptical for a moment but resigned himself to allowing the Inuzuka to stay and then moved to join Sakura at the table. She leaned in closer to him as he sat down. Kiba and Hinata were exchanging pleasantries in the background, with the girl asking him if he felt any better and chastising him gently about intentionally antagonizing a Yamanaka. "How did your mission go?"

"It was successful," he answered coolly.

She smiled faintly. "How did Hanabi-chan do?"

Neji met her eyes briefly and the bright, gleaming pride in them was unmistakable and perhaps even Gai-like. "She did as well as could be expected."

"Would you like to sit down with us?" Hinata's voice broke into their conversation and their attentions turned back upon her and Kiba.

"Nah," he said, scratching at his ear in a truly uncanny imitation of Akamaru. "I was just checking in at the mission desk when they asked me to find you. You got a mission. You too, Sakura. They kinda wanted me to tell all of you girls, but what do I look like? A courier pigeon?"

Hinata and Sakura shared a look. "Did they say what the mission was?" the medic wondered.

"Nope, wouldn't give me any details. Sounds like it's just gonna be you girls, though," Kiba replied with a shrug.

"We should go see Tsunade-sama then." Sakura got to her feet, sparing Neji a smile and a wave before approaching Hinata. "The sooner the better. She was already cranky this morning after Kakashi-sensei was four hours late for his appointment."

"I know, but I had a meeting with Father in an hour," Hinata murmured, chewing her lips a little as she looked to a clock on the wall.

"I will meet with Hiashi-sama for you, if you want," Neji interjected. "He'll understand."

The girl looked to him, smiling happily. "Thank you so much, Nii-san. I'll try to be back as soon as I can. Apologize for me, would you?"

He nodded and the girls departed, Kiba on their heels.

* * *

"The assignment is beneath the four of you, I'll admit. However, the village can't refuse—the pay is too good—and the client's wishes were rather specific."

Kakashi wasn't quite sure what he was doing in the Hokage's office at a time of day when he didn't need to be in the Hokage's office. His only real excuse was that he had run into Sakura and the girls on their way and decided to walk with them. He really had nothing better to do (he had only two more days of leave left to suffer through and he was counting the minutes). Besides, watching the reactions of the young, civilian men when they saw him walking with four of the prettiest girls in the village was _always_ highly entertaining.

"Our client's a woman from a noble house in the Land of Waves. Her name's Inoue Masaru."

"What page are you on?"

Kakashi turned his head slightly to acknowledge Sakura, who was standing on his left (she made that a habit it seemed, he wondered if she did it just to tease him). They were by the windows, him reading and her pretending to be highly interested in what Tsunade was saying. And it was very obvious that she was just pretending. Up until speaking, her eyes had a partially glazed look to them. "Sixty-nine," he replied casually.

Sakura let out a snort of laughter and she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth as Tsunade shot them an accusing look while Tenten, Ino, and Hinata all lifted eyebrows at their friend.

"As I was saying," the Hokage began again, her eyes sliding casually away from the pair by the window. Sakura took the moment to kick Kakashi in the shin. "Our client's name is Inoue Masaru and she's requested assistance from our village. She and her family are traveling from the Land of Waves to Takigakure, where one of her daughters is to be married."

"Sounds like fun," Kakashi huffed softly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're jealous of an _escort_ mission? You are really hurting for something to do, aren't you?"

"Hm, I wouldn't be but my doctor is particularly cruel and she said that I can't go on missions; bodily harm was threatened."

"Sounds like you need to find a new physician. I can make a few suggestions."

Kakashi grinned and then a chill crept up the back of his neck signaling that, yep, Tsunade was scowling at them again.

"Do I need to separate you two?" the Godaime asked waggling a finger at them.

"Sorry Tsunade-sama," Sakura replied quickly.

The woman looked back to the scroll in front of her and this time Kakashi managed to evade Sakura as she made another attempt on his shin. "She has eight daughters—"

"Ho-lee _crap_," Tenten murmured and then she slapped a hand over her mouth as Ino burst into a fit of laughter.

A tick started above Tsunade's eyebrow and it was _amazing,_ Kakashi decided, how very much alike Sakura and Tsunade were without being related. The ticking, the narrow-eyed look, the way the skin between their eyebrows bunched together when they scowled, _the_ scowl itself and it was most definitely _the_ scowl because there was no other look quite like it that could turn two such pretty faces into visions of terror.

Apparently sensing that she was quickly losing her audience, Tsunade heaved a sigh of long-suffering and reclined back in her chair. "She and her daughters need escorts and I'm sending you four. You're rendezvousing with them at the civilian village Mori east of Konoha."

"You should send a more experienced Jonin with them. That's a long way and a lot of people to keep an eye on," Kakashi suggested.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "That's so subtle, Kakashi-sensei."

Tsunade waved them both off. "I'd normally agree, but it was requested that the escorts be either—" she lifted the scroll slightly as if to quote directly from it—"women or eunuchs. Kurenai's specialty won't be required so I would rather not ask her to leave Asuka, Anko is on a mission already, and unless you or anyone you know has been recently neutered we'll go with the original plan."

"Unless you're just _that_ eager for a mission and then I'm sure some things can be _re_arranged," Sakura added with an all-too cheerful smile.

Kakashi glowered at her and Tsunade smirked as she rolled up the scroll. "Here," she said, holding it out toward Sakura. "You'll take the lead on this one. It's C-rank, but the woman's paying for A-rank work so smile pretty and play nice. You're to leave tomorrow morning. Get some rest."

The girls nodded and departed, except for Sakura. Kakashi lingered as well, leaning over the medic's shoulder to read the scroll. "Takigakure," he murmured. "It's been a while since I've been there. I think the last time was with Team Seven."

"It'll be interesting to see how it's grown," she noted with a hum as she scanned the details. After a minute, she sighed and began to roll the scroll up again. "I guess I should head home and pack."

"And sleep."

Sakura eyed him. "I sleep."

"And eat."

"I eat!"

Kakashi smiled at her annoyance and maybe a little at the fact that Tsunade's eyes were focused on them now, honed in on her pink-haired apprentice. He nodded toward the door. "Do you want to grab some dinner on the way back? I bet we'll run into Naruto at Ichiraku's."

"Who's paying?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"The slowest, I suppose."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "Of course," she muttered. "Tsunade-sama, do you need me for anything?"

"No, but if you'd stay for just a minute so we can talk? Hatake, wait outside."

Kakashi lazily saluted and slipped out.

* * *

"So, what did boss-lady—too slow."

Sakura snarled and pulled her fist free of the wall where Kakashi's head had previously been. Great, one hole punched into the side of the Hokage tower. Tsunade would have kittens and it's not like anyone else in the village was known for that sort of strength. Well, maybe she could blame Naruto…

Kakashi was standing behind her, reading his book while she hadn't even managed to ruffle a single silver hair on his head. It gave her flashbacks to her days as a Genin. "So, the meeting didn't go so well, I take?" he asked.

Sakura scowled and slumped back against the perforated wall. "She wanted to know if I was taking care of myself. She wanted to make sure that taking care of the guys at my place wasn't running me down too much. Maybe I should be put on leave too if I don't know when to quit."

"Well, she is the best medic around for a reason, Sakura-chan," he said, tipping his head back and scratching his chin. "You should listen to her."

"You're such a child!" she snapped. "You said those things in front of her on purpose so she'd worry because you're pouty about still being on leave! You know, most guys beg me to put them on two weeks of vacation for sprained ankles and you come in bloody and beaten to hell after _three months_ away and you get antsy after a few days of rest!"

Kakashi had averted his gaze to something that was apparently very interesting in the east. "A week and five days," he muttered. Before she could interject he added, "And I find it somewhat hypocritical of you to lecture me when _you_ are just as bad. You can't stand the idea of taking leave."

"I wonder where I get it," she scoffed as she pushed away from the wall and stalked past him.

Kakashi was immediately on her left. "That's not fair. You can't blame that kind of thing on me. Your taste in porn, amazing dog-grooming abilities, and deep sense of concern for your teammates on the other hand…"

Sakura paused at this and looked quickly to the man beside her, frowning at the way his droopy gray eye watched her impassively.

"_Those _are the things you can blame on me," he clarified helpfully.

The girl crossed her arms and eyed him for a long moment. Yes, she said to herself, again acknowledging something she had known for some time, Hatake Kakashi certainly knew how to be charming. The cheeky bastard. "Deep concern for teammates, huh?" she repeated thoughtfully as she started forward again.

"Even when they don't act like they appreciate it," he confirmed.

At that, Sakura felt a smile tug on her lips. She quickly turned her head the other way so he wouldn't see it, but she could tell that he had when he gently nudged her with his elbow as they walked. She looked back to him after a moment and shook her head. "You're such a jerk."

At hearing this, any outsider would have been confused by the decidedly happy crease of the Copy-nin's eye.

* * *

"What do you mean it's just for you girls?"

Sakura cocked an eyebrow at Naruto as he squinted at her from across the table. As Kakashi had suspect, the loud blond was indeed already at the restaurant when they arrived and more than happy to see them. She suspected that these sentiments would fade soon enough. "I mean it's just for us girls. You're not invited."

"So you're going all the way to Takigakure by yourselves?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes as she twirled some noodles around her chopsticks. "Naruto, the girls and I are the same rank as you boys. We don't need you to baby-sit us or didn't Tenten beat you hard enough this morning?"

Naruto pouted. "I just don't like it," he muttered. "I bet Neji and Shikamaru won't either."

"They might not, but _they_ are too smart to say anything," Sakura replied with a pointed look. "Naruto, it's an _escort_ mission. They're not even expecting any trouble."

"Sounds kind of sexist to me," he huffed. "No men? What's her deal?"

"She probably thinks she's protecting her daughters' virtues by asking that their guardians be women," Kakashi put in. "Wave is very conservative in that regard."

Naruto lifted an eyebrow. "So, she thinks that if she hires men we're going to de-virgin all of them?"

Sakura stomped her foot under the table. "Naruto, be a little more sensitive!" she scolded. "It's bad when even Kakashi-sensei manages to say it more delicately than you. And it's not like she's being unreasonable. It's a big deal among the nobility for a woman to be pure and she just wants them to be safe."

The blond was grinning from ear-to-ear despite her words as he lifted his arms to flex. "Well, I guess I can understand that. You know how studly us shinobi men are."

Seven years ago, the first point Sakura would've argued would've been the "studly" part. Given that Naruto was nearly as tall as Kakashi now and, well, quite the definition of studly (if the other girls were to be believed, because to her he would _always_ be just Naruto), her second argument of choice was to kick him in the shin.

And it was as effective as it had ever been.

"Sakura!" he whined. "C'mon, I was just joking around! If Kakashi-sensei had said it you wouldn't have kicked him!"

Sakura chose not to dignify that with an answer and simply popped a floret of steamed broccoli into her mouth.

"So, it's three days to Suna? So maybe two and a half to Takigakure?" Sai asked as he walked, carrying Sakura on his back.

"Something like that," Naruto said, glancing thoughtfully upwards. He was just ahead of them, walking backwards with his hands behind his head. "So, you'll be gone maybe a week tops? There and then back?"

"Suna is three days away at a dead run, guys," Sakura replied. "We're not going to be traveling near that fast. I'd lean closer to two weeks. If not longer…"

The blonde's shoulders slumped at this. "Seriously? Aw, _man_! We'll probably get sent out between now and then on some other mission and we won't see each other for, like, months!"

The girl laughed. "Well, if that's the case then I guess we'll just have to have a big dinner when we all get home," she replied.

Naruto grinned brightly at that. "Okay!" Then more quietly he added, with his eyes narrowed, "We'll make Kakashi-sensei pay for it."

Ah, yes. Somewhere, there was a Copy-nin to slap for skipping out on the bill.

(And somewhere Kakashi sneezed.)

"So, I guess you're going to be packing all night then, huh?"

Sakura nodded. "I think so. But you guys can come over and stay for as long as it doesn't bore you to death. I'm not going to be much of a hostess, but whatever."

The boys glanced at each other and then shrugged.

Later that night, with the television murmuring in the background and casting a soft glow over the room, Sakura wandered into the living room and found the Naruto and Sai asleep where they had sat down earlier that night.

Sai was piled awkwardly on one end of the couch with his sketchpad and pencil in his lap, which she moved to the coffee table, and then threw a blanket over him. Naruto was asleep on the opposite end with his head tipped back and his mouth wide open as he snored. She covered him with another blanket and then grabbed a third, which she pulled around her own shoulders as she sat down between them. Naruto shifted sleepily when she leaned her head back against his shoulder and he moved a little to get comfortable, slinging an arm around her lazily. She stretched her legs out and laid them across Sai's lap and then closed her eyes.

It could be a while, she figured, until she'd see them again, so she'd soak them in as much as she could right then.

* * *

1. Love yous!

2. No, my homework still isn't done.

3. ... Why do you guys like these notes so much?

4. I'm just rambling.

5. Oh

6. by

7. the

8. way

9. ... I forgot what I wanted to say. (Yes I just grievously abused the notes feature for my own amusement, but hopefully yours as well.) Anyhoodle, as my friend put it I "cranked up Kakashi's bothersome quotient" but then I suspect that that's what would happen if Sakura got to go on missions and he was still benched. We all have that spoiled five-year-old quotient.

10. OMG PLOT! GET IT AWAY! Well... pseudo-plot. Someone pointed out before that these chapters are like a series of one-shots and I agreed. Consider this sudden "something's happening" business a deviant from the usual nothingness.

11. Oh, a note worth note: I realize that my rant last chapter was a good source of amusement to many (I'm seriously glad you guys didn't mind), but I feel as though I should add that I didn't mean to throw anyone or their stories under the bus with it. It just... annoys me.

12. You want to know what else annoys me? This: Itachi's story, as I think about it, made him a WAY more compelling character than Sasuke and I would have loved-LOVED to see him used in a different fashion. This is mostly because I hate Sasuke. I do. This isn't a secret (it can't be as I think I mention it here several times as well as on my profile). I suppose I hate what his character represents: wasted potential. I know we're supposed to feel torn over what's happened to him but Itachi was just... he was MORE INTERESTING. He killed his own family out of the love he felt for his village and his little brother and then was promptly thrown under the bus by said village (and you know what? To be fair, Konoha didn't throw him under the bus. Danzo did). That is a beautifully tragic backstory and it would have made for an interesting driving force rather than just an excuse to keep Sasuke on his path of revenge because THAT is his sole, defining characteristic. Sasuke is just... he's face-palm inducing. The whole Uchiha thing is really. I mean, seriously, I think horrible leaps in logic was their second bloodline limit because holy crap there are just... SO many bad judgment calls made there. Beginning with this: YES! Let's totally begin planning a coup against THE CITY WE LIVE IN THAT IS FULL OF POWERFUL SHINOBI! I mean we are totally the most badass here, amiright? Besides, no one could possibly know what we're planning. Oh, I mean, our prodigy of a progeny Itachi is quite amazingly powerful and he never stands in the corner giggling evilly with us when we plot, he even seems a bit perturbed by it, but I'm sure that is just a phase-HOLY CRAP THERE'S A KATANA IN MY CHEST! I'm just sayin'.

13. ... I swear to the Almighty that I don't do drugs.

14. For serious.

15. Oh and I should probably address this now: No, I didn't make Hinata a stuttering simpleton without a backbone. Writers don't give her a lot of credit. The girl stood up to PEIN (... Pain? Pein? Paine? Payne? Seriously, how _are _we spelling his name these days?)! She has got massive ovaries of steel, she may very well be steel from the waist down, it's hard to say. I think after that, the Elders would be like the little paperclip assistant in Microsoft Word. Besides, Hinata always seems to come into her own when it comes down to protecting her loved ones and no matter how horrible they were to her, I think she'd love her family no matter what. Protecting them from the Elders (and from the traditions like the cursed mark and the very destructive system of main and branch families) would go far to drive her. (Oh and screw this nonsense of Hiashi being a monster. You do things, sometimes horrible things, in the name of pride and family. And as I recall, he didn't _want _his brother to die for him.)

**(See what you people get? You tell me you love the notes and I just go crazy with them. Two rants for the price of one chapter!)**

**(And... and I think I just ran out of wit. I can't think of anything clever to add to antagonize you to review... ... we may very well have to resort to LOLcat levels of humor.)**

**(CAN I HAZ REVIEWS PLZ?)**


	11. In Which Thar be Noble Lasses

**House Calls**

**Chapter 11**

**

* * *

**

After saying their good-byes at the gate, the girls departed Konoha early in the morning and made a straight shot for Mori, which was a large-ish, civilian city that sat at the junction of two large trade paths near Konoha. They were scheduled to meet their client yet that morning at the most luxurious hotel in the area. (The concierge sneered at their entrance, but his attitude quickly changed when Tenten began to pick at her fingernails with a kunai drawn out of thin air.)

As far as Sakura could tell upon meeting the woman, Inoue Masaru did not approve of her or her squad (the slightly arched eyebrows and otherwise unimpressed expression said it all). She felt likewise toward the woman. Yes, she was really quite beautiful despite the fact that her age was beginning to show in the slight creases around her eyes, but there was something ugly about her mouth that reminded Sakura of a spoiled brat. Her black, gray-flecked was drawn back into an elaborate knot at the base of her neck and her dress was indeed conservative, consisting of a dark blue, long-sleeved, high-necked dress that stopped at the knee to reveal the longer skirt of her white under-dress. No doubt there were additional layers. Sakura briefly recalled a mission that once took her to Wave. It had required "blending in" and after a month of wearing nothing but floor-length dresses, she had actually rejoiced at seeing her own knees again once she was home in Konoha.

Yes, to this tightly-buttoned woman she and the others probably looked like rabble. Then again, Tsunade had said she was wealthy and, on top of that, nobility so she probably wasn't inclined to look upon _any_ kunoichi in a friendly manner. It wasn't an uncommon attitude among some countries.

But Tsunade had told Sakura to smile and play ball. So she did. "My name is Haruno Sakura and this is Yamanaka Ino, Hyuuga Hinata, and Tenten. We're the ninja from Konoha that you requested."

The eyebrow lifted a little higher. "You're young."

Sakura resisted the urge to raise an eyebrow in return. Water was wet, she felt like saying. But instead, she just kept smiling. "We have been trained by the best shinobi of the village. Ino and Hinata hail from two of Konoha's most well-respected clans, Tenten is a master of her craft, and I am the Godaime's apprentice. I assure you that we are very capable."

Somehow, by time that reached Masaru's ears, it must have sounded something like, "blah, blah, blah" because the woman hardly seemed assured by this. Instead, she shrugged and turned away. "I'll introduce you to my daughters."

The girls shared sideways glances between each other and then started after her.

* * *

Sakura was glad, later that morning when she found herself taking inventory of each of the wagons (Masaru had insisted that she and her daughter's were traveling _light_ but there were easily ten of them), that Ino, Hinata, and Tenten had each managed to make a connection to their charges.

The youngest, a pair of five-year-old, blonde, blue-eyed twins named Natsuki and Masaki, were not expected to be much trouble as they were semi-permanently attached to each other and never far from their mother. They took to Tenten, who insisted that their almost uncanny level of twin-ness wasn't at all disconcerting. Ino marveled at how the weapon's mistress could tell the pair apart, but Sakura expected that it had something to do with the hair ties that Tenten had given them. One red. One blue.

Mariko, Tomoko, and Umeko were the sixteen-year-old triplets. Upon meeting them Sakura begrudgingly, but immediately, found a new respect for Masaru. Delivering them could not have been easy on the woman. Raising them couldn't be either. Almost the moment her and her squad were introduced, the triplets fired off twenty questions a piece about Konoha, about their profession, and just how handsome _were_ the guys they worked with?

To no one's shock, Ino took to them like she was their long-lost quad.

It was Hinata, however, that Sakura felt both sorry for and extremely grateful to, because, bless the girl, she volunteered to sit with Masaru, and her two eldest: Shiori and Ran. While Ran was tolerant, soft-spoken, and polite, Shiori, the one slated to be married, was as frigid and unlikable as her mother. She suspected that Hinata volunteered because sitting with Shiori and Masaru must have been quite a bit like what her everyday interactions with her own family in the past were.

But that was only seven, Sakura thought as she climbed onto the last wagon and lifted the tarp to check the contents.

"Hi."

Sakura smiled to herself. "Ah, eight," she murmured.

The girl before her was sitting between two large crates and staring up at her innocently with a book open on her lap. She was maybe twelve, with large, dark eyes and shaggy, ginger-colored hair that just brushed her chin. "Who are you?" she asked, sounding suspicious.

Sakura held a hand out. "Haruno Sakura. Your mother hired me and my friends; we're ninja."

She took Sakura's hand, clutching a large book to herself with the other, and Sakura easily lifted her by the wrist out of the wagon and deposited her on the ground before hopping down. The girl blinked again.

"What were you doing? Hiding in there, I mean?" Sakura asked conversationally as she pulled the tarp back into place.

"Reading. My sisters tease me when I read in front of them."

"I see. What's your name?"

"Inoue Momoe." She tipped her head to the side, orange locks swaying a little. "You have pink hair."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at her. "Yes, I do."

"Is it real?"

The medic spared the girl a half-smiled and then bowed low, letting her hair fall forward over her head to sway in front of her face. "What color are my roots?"

She felt the girl's fingers pick through her hair and then heard her laugh. "Pink? Where do you get pink hair?"

"My dad, actually," Sakura replied, lifting an arm to sweep her hair back as she straightened to look the girl in the eye. "Where did you get such pretty ginger hair?"

Momoe scowled a little and averted her eyes. "I don't know. And it isn't pretty."

Sakura hummed quietly and reached out to rake her fingers through the short strands. "Well, _I_ like it. Does your mother know you're out here?"

"Probably not."

"Right." She glanced around. Her experience with children was really limited to those she met at the hospital and Asuka. Ino had a few cousins that she had once helped her baby-sit, but after the mashed potato incident, Ino had been on her own. The kids in the children's ward were usually Genin and therefore always trying to pull something over on her and Asuka was as tricky to round up any kid who understood genjutsu at the age of five. All right, so her experience wasn't _limited_. It was just limited to _ninja_-bred kids.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Just taking some inventory and checking to make sure the wagons are all secure," she said. "Bandits are more likely to attack when you have this many wagons."

"More things to steal?"

It was the medic's turn to blink in reply. "Yes, that's usually the theory."

"Makes sense," the girl murmured. "Can you and your friends handle bandits?"

Sakura smiled. "Don't worry; we can _more_ than handle bandits."

Momoe nodded in approval. "Good."

* * *

Kakashi rubbed Pakkun's ear gently as he lay in bed, one arm folded behind his head. One day, nine hours, thirty-six minutes, until he was officially off leave and could accept a new mission. It would probably be something simple, probably a team assignment with Naruto and Sai, but it'd feel good to get back out on the field and _do_ something. Icha Icha was nice to read on a mission, but it did little to fill his hours at home.

"Sakura would be mad if she knew you spent all day just lying here," the little Pug pointed out without opening his eyes.

"Probably," Kakashi agreed.

No, not probably. Definitely. If it had gotten out to Sakura, she would've stalk into the apartment _hours_ ago to drag him out of bed.

But she wouldn't be doing that for a while. He didn't plan on taking any more down time any time soon and she wouldn't be around to play her role anyway.

Naruto had continued to grumble and moan about the idea of the girls going alone and Kakashi had smiled at that. Sakura had just rolled her eyes and waved him off.

But, Sakura's being gone definitely had its downsides for him too. For one, she was good company. After her shifts at the hospital she usually made it a habit to at least check in on him to see if he was around, sometimes bringing food with her for dinner. For another—

"Kakashi-sensei?"

For another, Naruto and Sai were far, _far_ less likely to come around looking for him to kill time. Without a mission to occupy them and without Sakura around, the two were like a pair of buoys cut loose and floating aimlessly. And they had floated into his apartment. He wasn't quite sure when he begun to allow that, but it had started around the same time that he had given Sakura that key and from then on it had never stopped and he had never thought to tell them not to.

"What is it, Naruto?"

"We were going to go out to the training ground," Naruto said, standing in the doorway with his shoulder against the frame. "Want to come?"

Kakashi gestured at Pakkun with his chin and the dog lightly hopped aside to let him sit up. "Bored?"

Naruto nodded, looking oddly subdued. "Yeah and Sakura-chan was gone before we woke up."

That either said a lot of good things about Sakura's skills as a ninja or a lot of bad things about Naruto and Sai; Kakashi couldn't decide. He rubbed at the back of his neck and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. "I'll be out in a minute."

The blond ducked out, Pakkun following him as Kakashi ambled to the bathroom.

* * *

"Sakura-chan?"

The medic fell back to walk beside the coach that the triplets occupied. On each side of the road stood heavy, dense forests of tall, sky-scraping trees. It made her vaguely grateful that for the better part of this mission they would be passing through Fire Country. She and the girls had a distinct advantage when it came to fighting in dense forests.

Ahead of her, near the lead coach that Masaru and her three youngest occupied, walked Hinata, who would activate her Byakugan every once in a while to scout the area ahead of them for potential threats. Farther back was Tenten and bringing up the line was Ino, who was abusing her own ability to mind-link so that Sakura could hear her sighing boredly every once in a while. Sakura was _so_ tattling to Inoichi when they got home.

"We haven't heard anything about the boys you work with," Umeko (or maybe it was Tomoko or Mariko, the resemblance was nearly as uncanny as the twins') said in an almost sing-song tone. "What are they like? Are they handsome?"

_Naruto's become quite the hottie as of late,_ Ino informed her.

Sakura did her best not to roll her eyes. "I don't really know if I'm one to ask, actually," she replied sheepishly. "I've worked with them for so long and I know them so well that I don't really think of them that way."

"But you must have noticed!" Tomoko (or who shall be named Tomoko in Sakura's mind for the sake of convenience) scolded. She smiled then. "I bet they _are_ handsome and you just don't want to say."

No, Sakura wanted to reply, my teammates consist of a man who always wears a mask and reads porn-y romance novels, a boy with a demon sealed inside of him, and a boy who has the emotional intelligence of a five-year-old because he was raised by an organization that trained him from a young age to feel nothing. My other teammate was a brooding sociopath who I loved for years, but he's dead now, killed by said boy with the demon sealed inside of him. I love them and they're nice to look at, but your perception of how attractive they really are depends on how much any of that puts you off.

(It was at this point that Sakura realized just how crazy her team's backstory sounded when outright stated.)

"Well, I've known Naruto the longest and the other girls' opinion of him seems to be that he's very handsome. He's tall-ish, blond, blue eyes, probably going to be the next Hokage…"

"Really?" Mariko looked ready to swoon.

Sakura smiled. "Yes, and he's only twenty. And then there's Sai and he's… well, he's a bit odd, but he's very sweet… or he tries to be, he isn't… he's very pretty and he's an artist."

Cue more swooning. Kiba had once pointed out that Sai's artist "gimmick" was the greatest chick-magnet ever, something that totally went over Sai's head. Thank the Hokages, really, because Sakura was not going to be his relationship coach if he ever did manage to find a girl.

"What about the other? Ino-chan said you had three men! Kakashi, I think?"

Note to self: Kill Ino. "Hatake Kakashi. He was my teacher before the Godaime took me on as her apprentice," Sakura explained. "And… actually, I don't know if he's handsome or not."

"How's that possible?" Umeko asked.

Sakura shrugged. "I've never seen his face. He always wears a mask—" she drew a line with her fingers over the bridge of her nose and under each eye to demonstrate—"and he's never taken it off."

"Well, how are his eyes?"

They really weren't going to let this go. Just how locked up were these girls that they were this desperate to _hear_ about men? "Well… they're fine I guess."

"What color?"

"Gray." And, at one point she imagined, they _both_ had indeed been gray. They didn't need to know any more than that. "A dark gray, sort of like ash, I guess. He has a scar over one so he wears his forehead protector cocked down over it and—"

"Ooh, so he's the mysterious type," Tomoko cooed and she and her sisters burst into a three-part harmony of giggles. "Oh, I bet he's handsome under that mask."

"Hatake Kakashi…" Mariko tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Why does that sound so familiar?"

Sakura shrugged. "He's known as the Copy-nin outside of—"

The squeals and shrieks of excitement that the triplets elicited at hearing _this_ might have been of the right pitch and frequency to break glass. Apparently, the medic thought wryly as she was asked rapid-fire questions, Kakashi was quite well-known in Wave.

That was definitely something to ask about later.

And before Sakura could stop them or formulate an argument against it, the triplets were making up their very own mythos for the Copy-nin, complete with tragic backstory (well, they weren't too far off), no less than a hundred romantic liaisons, and a face that could make God jealous.

* * *

"Maybe you're coming down with something," Naruto suggested as Kakashi sneezed for the fifth time during lunch.

"Maybe," he agreed.

The blond smiled. "Gonna suck. Sakura-chan won't be around to take care of you."

The thought made Kakashi pout a little and then he huffed softly to himself when he realized what he was doing. Hokages, when had they become _that_ dependent on the girl? More importantly, since when had _he_? Naruto and Sai went whimpering to Sakura to be coddled and taken care of because they knew they had full rights to do so, but when did he need someone around to nurse him back to health? Because he _didn't_.

It was just really nice that he had someone who would do so.

"I'll be fine," Kakashi replied dismissively and almost immediately tuned out Naruto when he heard Sakura's name spoken behind him and immediately honed in on the conversation between two Jonin who had just walked in. They were muttering about it being a bummer that the girl was gone and then started to complain about the hospital and how the nurses there weren't quite so nice and how it wasn't so bad to be bleeding out if you had something pretty to look at while you did it.

No wonder Sakura hated taking leave. She played the role of both mother and nurse to not just them but apparently also to half of Konoha. When did the girl sleep? Or eat for that matter? He had really just been trying to be a bother in Tsunade's office the other day, but maybe he wasn't so far off the mark.

"Whatcha drawing, Sai?"

The artist, whose left hand was vigorously doodling _something_, made no response.

Naruto cocked an eyebrow and then dipped a finger into his water and flicked some at Sai, knowing that nudging the boy while he was in the midst of drawing was dangerous indeed. Sai jumped as the cold flecks splattered against his cheek and looked sharply to his teammate. "What?" he asked with no visible annoyance.

"Whatcha drawing?" Naruto asked again, nodding to the sketchpad.

"Oh." Sai glanced down at his drawing and blinked. "Nothing really."

With a shrug, he handed the sketchpad off to Naruto, who cocked his head to one side as he eyed it. "Her eyes are a bit off," he noted.

Kakashi glanced away from his book briefly, to see what Naruto was talking about, and frowned. The drawing was of Sakura, her chin resting on an opened palm with a half-smile on her lips and a familiar raised eyebrow. The blond suddenly let out a bark of laughter and lurched across the table to prop the sketch pad up on the empty space beside Kakashi, who raised an eyebrow at the boy.

"There," Naruto said proudly. "It's like she never left."

Sai nodded, but then after a long moment noted, "It's too quiet."

They both began to grin.

Kakashi shook his head and looked back to his book. Casually, with his unoccupied hand, he grabbed the sketch book and delivered a sound smack to the tops of both their heads before sitting it back in place. "Does it feel more like she's here, now?" he wondered.

Naruto scowled as he rubbed his abused scalp. "Yeah. Thanks."

* * *

_Sakura._

Sakura lifted her head and frowned. The triplets had already more or less forgotten that she was ever even in their conversation as they were still busy talking about Kakashi, who would never ever find out about this because then he'd just be unbearable.

"Excuse me," she said before leaping up onto the top of the carriage then forward onto the one ahead of it. She landed on the lead carriage, startling the driver, and then lightly hopped down to join Hinata who was keeping pace beside it. "What's wrong?"

The Hyuuga's eyes were narrowed slightly, a look that became much more aggressive with bulging veins and strained pupils of her active Byakugan. "The road ahead appears blocked."

"By?"

"A tree."

"Intentionally?"

"It appears to have been cleanly severed at the trunk, so I would assume yes."

Sakura nodded. _Pig. Tenten._

_ What's up Forehead?_

_ Is something wrong?_

_ I need you two to move to the head of the line. Hinata and I are going to move ahead and check out a potential problem._

_ Should we stop the wagons?_

_ No, that shouldn't be necessary. We'll clear the threat before you catch up. Just keep your eyes peeled._

_ Roger._

_ Got it!_

_

* * *

_

"Great."

Because Sakura loved nothing more than dealing with bandits.

Especially ones stupid enough to just sort of pile together in the middle of the road. She assumed that the idiot (the handsome idiot, she'd concede) that was standing on the improvised roadblock of a tree was the leader. And damn it if the bastards hadn't started to grin when she and Hinata dropped down out of the trees.

Yes, Sakura knew that neither she nor the Hyuuga presented a very intimidating image. Hinata was the very picture of a porcelain doll and _she_ wasn't exactly built like someone who might excel in any form of combat (medics placed priority on speed and agility, after all), but some respect was due, damn it!

"Ah, Ladies," the leader began with a grin. "Good afternoon."

"Gentlemen," Sakura greeted in reply as she tugged her gloves out of her back pocket and began to carefully pull them on.

"Kunoichi from Leaf, I take?"

"Very astute of you," the girl replied. "I assume, then, that you realize that you're in our way."

"It was our every intention."

Sakura almost sighed to herself as she spared Hinata a pained look. "Of course it was."

Hinata smiled faintly in reply but never took her eyes off of the men standing before them. "You intend to rob our clients," she stated, not asked.

"No harm need come of them," the man replied with a shrug. "I'm a reasonable individual."

"We are being paid to protect their possessions as well as their persons," Hinata replied softly. "We cannot allow you to proceed."

He lifted an eyebrow at this. "You're outnumbered."

"And you're out-classed."

His eyes barely had time to widen and his head to turn before Sakura, who appeared before him a blur of red and pink, slammed her heel into the side of his head in a spinning kick that sent him hurtling ass over teakettle into the dense undergrowth off the side of the road.

The medic's feet barely touched the ground when she sensed the movement behind her. The largest of the men, taking offense at the treatment of his leader, had charged her, but as the two-handed axe he carried buried itself into the ground Sakura had once been standing upon, Hinata appeared before him in her place. With the gentlest of touches, she tapped her opened palm against the center of his chest and then darted to the side as he collapsed to the ground.

Sakura delivered an uppercut to another bandit that sent his bottom jaw careening into his top (she did her best to ignore the crack of bone and the snap of teeth as they broke) and then turned and hurled him over her shoulder into a man coming up on Hinata from behind (not that anyone ever successfully snuck up on a Hyuuga). The girl easily dodged the flying bodies and with the grace of a dancer, ducked around and behind another bandit, her palm just grazing his side beneath his ribs.

The fight, if one could call it such, was over in a matter of a few minutes. Sakura easily dragged the tree out of the way as Hinata scanned the area for any more of the would-be thieves' possible compatriots. "What should we do with them?" Sakura wondered as she indicated the battered and unconscious men around them.

Hinata shrugged. "We'll move them out of the way. We can report their existence to Tsunade-sama when we return to Konoha. They likely will not be difficult to find again and easily handled."

"Good point." She yawned and stretched her arms up over head. "This was a little anti-climatic. It wasn't even a workout."

"Hm, perhaps we will happen upon others who will be up to our standards," Hinata suggested with a tiny smile and a sideways look.

Sakura grinned back. "Doubtful."

* * *

1. Love you, guys. And in celebration of Sept 19th being Talk Like a Pirate Day, the rest of my notes will be (badly) rendered in pirate speech.

2. Arr, I was a bit concerned about me fiddling with the notes last chapter. Me hits dropped significantly and I hope I did not offend. (Although I be tempted to blame the scallywag that is this site... arrrr. Tis a vicious, fickle devil she.)

3. It were a joke. I swear on my scurvy heart.

4. And I be awares that nothin' happened this chapter. Clearly I be takin' me molasses simile very seriously. And I be sure that you can see now why I be avoidin' action what with that pathetic excuse of a fight scene... arrrr.

5. Thar she blows! Loads and loads of OCs! I apologize for this, mates. Also, if perhaps ya missed the enormous "Significant to Future Storyline" sign hanging over the head of the little Miss. Momoe, you lot can consider yerselves warned. Her name shall be comin' up even when this arc is finished. ... Arrrr.

6. I swear on me crusty heart that I have a reason for this madness. Just hang with me, mates!

7. Now, you yellow bellies can go listen to that new soong "All In" by Lifehouse! And pay attention to the words. Savvy? ('Tis my happy ending motif.)

8. Oh and I do apologize for the bit of dialogue 'tween the girls' concernin' the mental link business, especially if it t'was hard to understand. I thought that the lass Ino acting like a hub between all of their mind (arrr) would be a rather useful method of communicatin'. (Really, if ya think about it, the lasses make a fairly well-balanced team of their own.)

No rants this chapter, lads and lasses. Amazin', right? Borin', but amazin'. (Okay, so I'm partially tempted to rant about how much I hate how this chapter came out, but I won't.)

**(And this is where I beg for your reviews. Cue up impotent whining and begging. ... Arrrrr.)**


	12. In Which Things are Paid Forward

**House Calls  
**

**Chapter 12**

**

* * *

Note:** It's never good when these things show up first. Due to the fact that I've been piecing this chapter together between my most recent bouts of insomnia and depression (eh, it happens to the best of us), it is an disjointed, incoherent pile of poo. I had a long epic plot in mind for this most recent arc but then my motivation to write this story fizzled out. Once I chopped off the epic part of that, I could write again. Go figure.

But I've already kept you too long. Go on and read!

* * *

Something, somewhere in his life was "off" and the feeling put Kakashi on edge.

When he got back to his apartment, he checked his stove (the idea of it ever being used was comical as its presence was merely a formality, but he did it anyway). He rounded up the dogs and did a headcount and then mentally ran through his schedule for a fourth time to make certain that he didn't have any appointments he may just completely overlooked (because he _was_ courteous enough to _eventually_ show up). To his annoyance, none of this put him at ease. The feeling remained.

At lunch, when Kakashi had first made mention of it, Naruto had suggested, only half-seriously, that maybe something had gone wrong on Sakura's mission. Kakashi dismissed the notion quickly. Sakura, he would always remind the boy, was a capable kunoichi and she could more than take care of herself. Besides, they were only going to Takigakure. The distance not withstanding, they would be primarily traveling through Fire Country and Waterfall was an ally. The only prominent danger in that area was the bandit population, but most Genin worth their salt could take on the sort of rabble that haunted those woods without difficulty. They'd pose the girls no real threat.

"You sure you didn't forget an appointment?" Pakkun asked as he dug at his ear with his hind foot. He was seated on the arm of the couch to Kakashi's left.

"Positive." Kakashi absentmindedly rubbed circles into the top of Bisuke's head with one hand and scratched Uhei's belly with the other. His feet were propped on Bull's back as the massive black dog lay sprawled in front of him on the floor while the other dogs lay on the ratty armchair and matching footrest across the room.

The Pug eyed him skeptically. "I don't know, Kakashi; you're due to just plain _forget_ something one of these days."

"I didn't have anything _to_ forget today," the man argued. "I didn't even have plans until the boys showed up."

"What about the pretty girl, Boss?" Shiba asked, lying on his back on the armchair with his head hanging off the edge of the cushion, which he lifted a little to stare at Kakashi. "Did ya have anything goin' with her?"

"Sakura?" Pakkun replied. "No, she's out of town on a mission."

"Besides," Guruko began with a grin, "She'd of been over here hours ago shouting about it."

Shiba lowered his head again. "Good point."

Kakashi sighed. "You guys aren't helping."

"Did you forget to do your mission report?" Akino asked from the floor, his head tipped to the side.

"No," he replied, almost groaning the word as he scrubbed his face with his palms and huffed in frustration. No, he hadn't forgot it. It was still lying on his dresser, incomplete but with its presence completely acknowledged. "None of you guys had an appointment with Hana, right?"

They all glanced at one another and he rolled his eyes. Even if they _did_ have an appointment with the veterinarian, they certainly weren't about to admit it.

"How long is the pretty girl gonna be gone?" Shiba asked, breaking the silence.

"Not sure. Probably a couple weeks," Pakkun replied. "An escort mission to Waterfall, right Kakashi?"

"Yeah."

"Can we still go over there?" Uhei asked as he rolled onto his front and cocked his bandaged head. "She keeps those really good liver snacks around."

"Someone should watch the place anyway," Urushi offered, like he was suggesting it simply because it was a noble idea and not because there were liver-flavored treats hanging in the balance.

Pakkun rolled his eyes. "I'm already watching the place. If you guys go over there you'll make a mess and she'll have a fit."

Kakashi was rather glad that the Pug was handling this as he was still busy mulling every possibility over in his mind. It was not the stove or an appointment with a doctor or Tsunade; not a mission report to fill or a training session to get to...

He wanted to kick something, but didn't have the energy or the temperament. He settled for huffing impatiently and impotently and wracked his mind again from the beginning, running down the list of every possibility. This was going to drive him nuts; he had never forgotten anything before, but the _feeling_ was there, like a nameless weight in the back of his mind that kept dragging his thoughts back to it.

Damn it.

* * *

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

"What is Tenten doing?"

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

Sakura turned her head toward Ino, but her eyes were still on Tenten as the weapon's mistress continued the game of five-finger fillet she was playing with herself and a kunai, which jabbed into the table between her fingers with fervor that seemed renewed with every pass. "Letting out her frustration in a constructive manner."

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

"What frustration?"

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

Tenten snarled. "Nameless, street urchin am I?"

"Ah. Masaru being a bitch again?"

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

Sakura swept the hotel bar carefully with her gaze and then glowered at Ino. "You can't say that out in public!"

"Oh please, Masaru would never come around here and she'd certainly never let any of the girls come," the blond scoffed. She paused a moment. "Is the manager okay with her doing that to the table?"

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

"Do you think he'd try to stop her?"

"Good point."

_Thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk!_

_

* * *

_

Sakura heaved a sigh as she began another lap around the hotel. Just inside, Hinata was standing guard in the lobby and upstairs, Ino and Tenten were monitoring the girls' bedrooms. She had offered to take patrol outside if only because moving would keep her awake. Honestly, she was dead on her feet and found it hard to ignore the temptation of the soldier pills rolling around in her hip pouch.

The inn was just a roadside checkpoint for travelers, miles away from the next bit of civilization. There was as small stable located behind it to board traveler's horses and carefully secured to posts in front of the stable, were the three carriages that the ladies rode in. The other wagons were elsewhere, being guarded by their respective drivers (who were oldest men, distantly related to the ladies and relatively skilled with swords, according to Tenten).

Sakura stretched her arms up over her head and yawned. She had given up worrying about her house hours ago and just accepted the fact that except for immaculately washed dishes, the whole place would be trashed. Her men were good at their jobs but not one of them excelled at housekeeping.

Her men.

She resisted the urge to slap her forehead. Apparently Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai weren't enough to keep her hands full. She had decided to subconsciously adopt all of Konoha's shinobi.

_Great._

Sakura paused when she saw a faint glow of light coming from the inside of one carriage and she approached it with an eyebrow raised and one hand poised to draw a kunai from her thigh holster. She pulled the door open and then let out a relieved sigh when she saw a familiar ginger mop. "Ah, Momoe-chan."

The girl looked up from her book to the kunoichi standing at the opened carriage door, her arm propped against the frame. She offered a sheepish smile. "Hi."

"It's nearly eleven. Curfew was two hours ago," Sakura said gently and then with a frown she asked, "How did you get by us anyway?"

Momoe smiled faintly. "You and you friends were too busy trying to round up the twins to notice me."

"But why go out here?"

"I don't like sleeping in the same room as the twins."

Sakura decided not to ask why, although she had a feeling she knew already. The twins… well, the twins were evil. Not outwardly so, but there was just something distinctly off-putting about them. That and she always felt like an animal being lured into a trap whenever those two turned their attention on her. "I see," she murmured, pulling herself into the carriage. She settled on the bench opposite of Momoe and then crossed her legs. "So, what are you reading?"

"Fairytales."

"Those were always my favorite."

Momoe nodded, but that didn't stop the little furrow of consternation from forming between her eyebrows. "They're not very realistic."

"They're not supposed to be."

The girl didn't seem satisfied with this answer.

"Something wrong, Momoe?"

She shook her head. "No. Not really."

Sakura lifted a skeptical eyebrow at the girl and reached out with her foot to gently nudge the girl's leg with the toe of her boot. "C'mon, it's obvious that something's bothering you. What's wrong? You can tell me. I'm very good at keeping secrets."

Momoe spared her a look and then sighed, eyes dropping again to her feet. "The triplets always talk about love and marriage like it is in fairytales," she said, her fingers tightening ever so slightly on the book as she spoke. "But Shiori is getting married and she's… she's so unhappy."

Sakura vaguely doubted if Shiori knew how to be happy. The woman was so frigid and cold; always polite and soft-spoken but distant. "Shiori's situation is a little different. It's an arranged marriage."

"I know," Momoe replied. "She doesn't even know the man she's marrying, does she?"

Sakura chewed her lip. "From what I can tell, no. She doesn't."

The girl sighed and pushed the book off of her lap onto the seat beside her in frustration. "She says it's going to happen to all of us. She says that love isn't practical and that they should just accept reality for what it is and grow up, because their marriages are going to be the same thing. But the triplets are still the way they are."

"Momoe…" Sakura trailed off, sighing. She vaguely wished that she was half as good as Kurenai at this girl-talk thing. "I don't know what you want from me here."

The girl shrugged. "I don't know either, I guess." She sighed, her cheeks puffing out as she did so and then she looked to Sakura. "What do you think about that kind of stuff?"

Sakura kind of wished she had just hustled Momoe off to bed like the other girls would have, but she had a growing soft spot for the kid. She was obviously alone, even when surrounded by sisters. She went ignored by her mother and was harassed endlessly by the triplets, who thought they were being affectionate, and the twins, who seemed to derive joy from the pain of others. "I don't know."

"What do you mean?"

She blew some of her bangs out of her face and let her head fall back against the seat. "I used to be like the triplets. Everything was some romantic adventure and I was going to find my prince charming and it was all going to be perfect."

"Then?"

"Then things changed—a lot. And I grew up—a lot." Sakura shifted a little and rolled her head forward to look at her fingers. She began picking at her nails.

Momoe hummed, kicking her feet a little. "It sounds nice in theory, though," she murmured thoughtfully. "Falling in love, I mean."

Sakura nodded slowly. "Falling's nice. Being in love is the hard part."

The girl lifted her eyes to the medics and a sense of understanding passing between them. "What happened?"

"He… he wasn't who I thought he was."

"Where is he now?"

"Doesn't matter." She lifted her eyes to Momoe's and offered the girl a smile. "I'm really not the one you should be asking about all of this stuff. I mean, ninja are pretty notorious for not having very good love lives and I'm notorious among ninja for it."

Notorious was one way of putting it. Her love life, or lack thereof, was a favorite topic among the nurses at the hospital. The most popular theory seemed to be that she was still in love with "that Uchiha traitor", but this met heavy resistance in the form of the "she's a good medic so shut the hell up" faction (who was largely comprised of polite, soft-spoken Shizune to Sakura's surprise).

Ino insisted that she was still pretty beat-up emotionally and just needed time—as much time as she wanted to take and no one had the right to say anything to the contrary. She had even offered to deal with those with dissenting opinions. (It was not a week after that that the term "Christmas Cake" was first used in reference to Sakura and not an hour after _that_ that two of the offending nurses were found in the lounge clucking like chickens. Ino denied responsibility.)

Momoe seemed unbothered by this. "You know more than I do though; more than my sisters too. They can talk about love all they want, but they've never even really met a boy before, let alone talked to one or been in love. Did he break your heart?"

"Oh yeah." Sakura laughed quietly, bitterly, and nodded. It was actually getting kind of funny now. The girl was being so clinical about this. "He definitely managed that… but I'm surrounded by good men who give me hope and I know amazing people who have overcome so much that they inspire me to do the same." She paused and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. "I guess for all of the lies that fairytales tell, one of the better ones is about heartbreak. It fades with time. Like everything else."

The girl smiled and it seemed to be a strangely wise and knowing smile for someone her age. "So you're still a romantic."

"One with a good bit more reason, but yes," Sakura replied. She raised an eyebrow a little. "None of that helps, does it?"

"Actually, it does." Momoe considered her thoughtfully for a long moment and then added with a faint smile, "Thanks."

Sakura nodded and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

"So, the triplets keep going on and on about this Kakashi guy. Who is he again?"

She chuckled, pressing a palm to her forehead. "He's a friend of mine. He was my teacher when I was a Genin. That is, when I was a junior ninja fresh out of the academy."

"Oh, so he's old?"

"Well, no. He's only in his thirties," Sakura explained. After a moment, she smiled to herself and shook her head. "_He_ always calls himself an old man, but that's because he's always shamelessly angling for pity. He's good, though. One of the best men I've ever known."

Momoe suddenly smiled. "You like him a lot then, don't you?"

Sakura could sense the incoming attack. Momoe had just affected the same tone Asuka took on whenever _she_ started in on _her_ shtick and the triplets had been making their own sideways comments about that from the beginning. "_Okay_, time for bed!" she announced, getting to her feet and ushering to the carriage door. The girl squawked in protest. "No, arguing! Your mother will dock our pay if she finds out that you've been out here for so long and I need to finish my rounds."

* * *

Two more days passed by before Kakashi decided to visit Sakura's house with Pakkun to check on the place and to see if he had forgotten anything there. That distinct feeling that something was just out of place would just not leave and he was desperate now. Pakkun was skeptical at best. What could he have left there? But Sakura's was one of the only places besides his apartment that he had been for any significant amount of time in the last few weeks and therefore his last best guess.

Kakashi sighed as he released the familiar seals on the door of the small breezeway behind the kitchen at the back of the house. The only things that occupied the little space were the washer and dryer (having been evicted from their previous home), the floor-mounted shutter doors to the cellar, and the door to the kitchen. Sandal tread-shaped cakes of dried mud were scattered everywhere, mingling on the floor with what looked like dried blood and foliage trekked in by all Sakura's houseguests. He frowned a little.

Pakkun surveyed the mess passively. "Maybe you should suggest they add a new assignment to the D-rank listings," he muttered.

Kakashi chuckled. "Cleaning the medic's house?"

"They could do worse," the Pug replied with a shrug.

Good point. He rubbed at the back of his neck and nodded, making his way to the kitchen door. Feeling self-conscious now, he kicked his sandals against the step to knock the dirt off of them as Pakkun wiped his paws on the mat. "Sakura-chan _could_ use the help. Given that it's their ninja doing this, it might as well be on the village's tab."

"Hey, sensei! What are you doing here?"

Kakashi glanced up as he stepped through the doorway. Naruto and Sai were at the kitchen table with an assortment of food—opened jars, plastic storage dishes, and Styrofoam take-out boxes—spread out before them. It actually looked like they had just emptied the contents of the entire fridge out onto the table. "Just checking on the place," he answered, surveying the mess wearily. "What are you doing?"

Naruto grinned. "Sakura asked us to clean out her fridge while she was gone. She said everything was going to spoil anyway."

Kakashi nodded and propped himself against the counter. "So you plan on cleaning this mess up afterwards, right?" he asked.

The two glanced guiltily around the kitchen. "We'll take care of it," Naruto replied with a feebly innocent smile.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. Yeah, this looked right up a rookie team's alley. "Anyone else drop by?"

"Nope, it's been really quiet," Naruto replied, his eyes narrowed as he watched the older man. "What are you _really_ doing here, Kakashi-sensei?"

He glanced at the boys and then into the living room. "I think I forgot something here…"

"You're _still_ on that?" the blond demanded, sounding exasperated. "Maybe something _is_ wrong with Sakura-chan."

"She said she'd send word after a few days. We'll start thinking about worrying if she doesn't," Kakashi replied dismissively. "You should have more faith in her."

Naruto pouted. "I do have faith in her. I'm just _bored_."

"And a rescue just sounds like fun?" The Copy-nin chuckled and spared his former student a look. "I think Sakura stopped playing the distressed damsel when she was about sixteen."

The blond grinned. "Those were the good days."

* * *

Sakura wasn't much of a bar crawler at home, but after a day of dealing with Masaru, the triplets, and Shiori (who was becoming progressively less polite and more and more abominable with each passing day), she was more than grateful to settle in at a tavern for a few drinks while Hinata and Tenten looked after the girls at the hotel. Right behind her was Ino, who ordered some rice wine for them both, and then wandered off with one of the only good-looking men present to dance.

She sighed and began to pen a small note to the boys on a small scrap of paper she had taken from the clerk at the hotel. She usually wasn't one to be homesick, but all of the triplets' talk of Konoha's studly shinobi was making her a little lonesome for her three idiots. Not to mention, she needed to get home and reacquaint herself with the real Kakashi before she actually started believing everything the triplets were saying about him.

"Hey, hands off!"

Sakura glanced up in time to watch Ino fling her dance partner into a nearby table, which he crashed into hard enough to snap the legs clean off and breaking the top in half. Behind Ino, three of the man's friends charged to their feet.

Well, a fight would be therapeutic…

* * *

_Mission is slow and boring. Remind me never to take another escort job involving nobility. Be glad you didn't get it. Everything is going smooth; the bandits haven't even given us a decent workout. Tell the boys that I said hello._

_ Wish you were here suffering with me._

_oxoxox_

_Sakura_

"Heh, good to know she's okay. Too bad the mission sucks so much, though," Naruto said with a sympathetic frown as he walked beside Kakashi down the street, holding the note. "Think we can get a response back to her?"

"Not before they move out in the morning," Kakashi replied. "They're probably already in the northern part of Fire Country, anyway. They'll be heading back soon enough if they don't meet resistance."

* * *

"I would rather… I would rather sing karaoke with the Raikage's brother than go another step on this mission."

"Ooh, you're upping the ante. Let's see… I would rather… _heh_… _I_ would rather sing karaoke with the Raikage's brother _and _Gai-senpai, than take another step on this mission."

"Oh that just isn't fair! Hmm... ah-ha! I'd rather go drinking with Lee and Tsunade-sama than take another step on this mission!"

"Ugh, fine. You win."

* * *

"Well I'll be damned."

Pakkun cracked open an eye to stare at Kakashi. The man was staring at the mystery spot on his apartment ceiling, wearing only his sweats and a towel draped around his neck.

"What's the matter?" the dog asked.

The Copy-nin was quiet for a long moment before a small smile quirked his lips and he shook his head, almost in disbelief. "Sakura's gone."

Pakkun snorted. "Is she now?"

"I mean, she's gone… that's what's _off_. It's the fact that I'm in Konoha she's not barging in here every afternoon to check on me."

"Or the fact that you're not going over to her place to mooch some dinner?"

"Yeah, that too." He chuckled to himself and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. "I guess the next time she complains about us, I can't argue."

* * *

"Sakura-san?"

"What's up, Momoe-chan?"

The girl was staring at her feet as she sat beside the medic outside of the hotel, their backs to the brick wall as they looked out on the night. "When you leave us at Takigakure… I'm not going to have anyone to talk to anymore about… stuff."

Sakura smiled to herself and reached into the pocket of her shorts, withdrawing a scrap of paper. "Well, then it's a good thing that you'll have this. It's my address in Konoha. Write me a hundred letters a week, if you want. I'll be looking forward to it."

* * *

Kakashi never realized just how often he looked to Sakura for someone to talk to, until he found himself especially bored and oddly lonely during a meeting with Tsunade.

The ticking of her eyebrow told him that she didn't appreciate his wandering attention.

* * *

"Oh thank the Hokages!"

Masaru looked stricken. "What are you thanking them for? The branch clan is rioting!"

"I know! This mission's been so boring, I'm just excited that something's happening! Hinata, grab the bride and get her somewhere safe! Ino, see if you can manage some crowd control; Sakura and I will take the defensive!"

Sakura spared Masaru a brief smile. "Don't worry. We'll take care of everything. I promise. Tenten! Slow down!"

* * *

"Konoha kunoichi, huh? They sure know how to grow them there. And a medic-nin. Very nice. I have a thing for nurse-types."

"Cute, but flirting with me isn't going to save you from a broken jaw."

"Mouthy too. Hm… you know, now that I'm closer, you do look kind of familiar…"

"Makes sense. I've been here on diplomatic endeavors before."

"Really? As what?"

"The _Godaime's_ liaison and apprentice."

"_What_? Oh shi—!"

* * *

"Did you see the way she was looking at Souta all night?"

Momoe's grin practically lit up the room as she peeked out from around the changing screen at Sakura, who was seated in the corner of the room. _Sasaki_ Shiori and her new husband had invited the visitors from Konoha to stay in the family compound for the night, as a show of gratitude for quashing the riot during the reception and preventing anyone from coming to serious harm. She had almost pointed out that the Sasaki clansmen had done more than their fair share of work, but she decided against it. This was the first bit of respect she and the girls had been showed for almost two weeks. They would take advantage when they could.

"I did," she replied.

"When Souta took her hand Shiori went all pink and girly!" The girl disappeared again from view. It was kind of funny that she was more enthralled by her sister's interactions with her new husband than she was by the fight she had witnessed. "I'm happy for her, you know. His family is super fun and he seems really nice."

Sakura suspected that Momoe's opinion of Souta was helped by the fact that he was the oldest of nine children and knew that the universal key to kids' hearts was candy. Particularly candy magically pulled out of their ears or nose. It seemed that the whole Sasaki clan had a talent for sleight of hand; the clan leader's particularly humorous trick with the rolled up scroll of his congratulatory speech during the reception resulted in quite a few people snorting wine up their noses. (This stood in disturbing contrast to the swiftness with which another clansman had drawn a katana from _nowhere_ in order to stab a rebel a mere moment later. Sakura wished Kakashi was with her to explain how he had pulled it off.)

"He is quite the guy," she murmured finally in agreement.

Momoe reappeared wearing her plain sleeping yukata. She smiled as Sakura got to her feet. "You're going then?"

"To the baths first and then I'm going to be on watch with a few of the clansmen tonight," the medic replied with a shrug. "I'll still be here in the morning, though. To say good-bye."

The girl nodded. "Good. Maybe you can come back soon and visit." She grinned. "Souta asked me if I wanted to stay here for a while. Just me and Ran!"

Sakura smiled at her jubilation. Just her and Ran meant no triplets and no twins—a chance for the two of them to finally stand apart from their siblings. "Maybe. Konoha and Takigakure are allies and Naruto does always drag me along on his diplomatic missions."

"Good!"

She watched the girl crawl into bed and then made for the door. "Sweet dreams, Momoe-chan."

"You too, Sakura!"

Sakura smiled and quietly slipped out into the hallway.

"Haruno-san."

The medic turned sharply toward the voice, her hand sliding Momoe's door shut with a firm 'click'. "Inoue-san," she greeted with a quick bow of her head.

Masaru paused before her, her hands folded neatly in front of her. "Are you busy?"

"No, I just got done saying good night to Momoe-chan." Sakura shifted her weight awkwardly. "Is there anything I can do for you, Inoue-san?"

Suddenly, the woman for the first time of their acquaintance looked equally uncomfortable. "I… no. I just…" She paused and then cleared her throat before ducking into a short bow. "I wanted to thank you, for everything that you and your friends have done for my girls."

"We were just doing our jobs."

"I know."

Sakura nodded and stepped around her, moving in the direction of the bathhouse.

"I wanted to thank you for being a friend to Momoe."

She stopped short at that and turned partially toward the woman, who had turned as well to face her. "I'm sorry?"

"She's been happier, as of late." Masaru paused and pursed her lips as her brow furrowed pensively. "I wondered why until I saw you walking together the other night around the inn. You're the first friend she's ever had. She's never gotten along well with any of her sisters. She's… different I'm glad you can appreciate that."

"I am too," Sakura replied. She watched the woman for a long moment and then added, "I've given her permission to write me in Konoha, Inoue-san. I told her we'd keep in touch, but… I don't see things the way you do." She paused and stared down the hallway beyond the woman's shoulder. "I just want to warn you because I don't want to be accused of being a bad influence."

The woman smiled at that, but it was sad and faint. "I'm not worried about that. Momoe… she doesn't see things the way I do either. She never has and if she'll let _you_ guide her… well, I trust that you will do very well by her."

And despite the decidedly constipated look on her face, Sakura could tell Masaru was being sincere.

That was good enough.

* * *

Sakura wasn't looking forward to a lot of things once she and the girls made it back through the gates of Konoha and split up.

She wasn't looking forward to her debriefing with Tsunade in which she'd have to explain what exactly went down at the wedding and why Konoha would be paying for a good chunk of the collateral damage.

She wasn't looking forward to getting home and seeing what kind of a mess the boys had left it in.

She wasn't looking forward to the fact that since she was dead on her feet _exhausted_ she would be getting a record number of visitors for the next few days. (That was just how things worked, she decided.)

But she _was _looking forward to her own bed and to seeing her boys again if they were on hand… and dumping Ino off at the flower shop. Mostly that last one.

She decided that she would pound on the blond later for overusing her chakra. The girl had medical training, there was no excuse for her to be so wreckless! (And she was _so_ rubbing her irresponsibility in her face later, especially the next time Ino got on her case for overexerting herself.)

"Sakura? Hey, you're back!"

The medic turned and immediately brightened. Oh, the gods loved her! "Chouji!"

She could've cried. She could've danced. She could've dashed Ino's body to the ground and hugged him although she had a feeling that wouldn't go over so well.

The Akimichi canted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong with Ino?"

Sakura sighed and hitched her friend's weight a little higher on her back. "She's just exhausted. We kind of decided to get by the last few days on soldier pills so we could make it home faster, but the wedding didn't exactly go off without a hitch and crowd control isn't easy when there are four hundred people present and… okay, don't give me that look. I know I'm a medic."

Chouji scowled a moment longer and then sighed. "Here, let me take her. You look just about ready to collapse yourself."

"I could kiss you."

He laughed and easily lifted Ino into his arms. "How about you just remember this the next time you two start in on the weight thing?" he suggested.

"Deal."

Chouji smiled and Ino shifted slightly, her head lolling backwards to look at him as she opened her eyes. "Cho!" she squealed in sleepy delight as she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. "I thought I smelled barbecue. What are you doing here? You and Shika get sent to Waterfall too?"

"You're in Konoha."

"Hm, that's nice."

"_Annd _she's out," Chouji said as Ino's head thunked back against his armored shoulder. He chuckled and then looked to Sakura. "I could take you to the Yamanakas too, if you want."

"Thanks, but my house isn't that far from here. I can make it."

"Well, if you're sure then okay, but if I see Naruto I'm sending him over to check on you, all right?"

"Okay! Thanks again, Chouji!"

* * *

Sakura didn't bother with pajamas. She simply fell into bed in her underwear, deciding that she could shower and change later once she had full function of her limbs again. After all, her head didn't even hit the pillow before she was out.

To her, it seemed cruel that she would regain partial consciousness only a few hours later with her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. With a sigh, she heaved herself out of bed and staggered into the kitchen. She grabbed a glass from the cupboard filled it with water from the sink, and then drained it in a somnolent semblance of life , but before she could turn and stumble back to bed, something caught her eye: a piece of paper taped to her fridge.

_Sleep well,_ it read and then, at the bottom, it was signed with a familiar face. A henohenomoheji.

A wry, sleepy smile curled the corner of her lip and she reached forward to gently tug open the door. A fresh carton of milk, a few vegetables, fruit, and what looked like takeout from Ichiraku.

The smile remained, even as she burrowed back under her covers and fell asleep.

* * *

1. I wish I knew how zombies talked, because then these notes would be a far more accurate read of my feeling at the moment. By the way, I love you guys.

2. Oh I hate this chapter so much. It FEELS lazy and I'm so disappointed that I'm even posting it, but I think this is the best it's going to be. Think of it as a chapter of vaguely connected drabbles. That's the best way I can describe it.

3. Although, oddly, if there's one thing I like about this chapter, it's the Sasaki clan. Perpetually happy people who can pull pointy objects out of thin air? Awesome.

4. Hey Chouji gets dialogue here! Yeah, about 90% of the time I just want to cuddle the poor guy. It's okay, Chouji. I like you.

5. Yes, I see Tenten being a little stab-happy when she's mad and extremely, extremely hateful of stagnation. I think sitting still would probably drive her nuts.

6. I poke fun here, but I really do love Killer Bee. I mean, a lot. He makes me laugh so hard I want to cry and then I squeal in shonen-fight-scene-fangirl delight when he has a battle because of the rapping and the improbable number of swords and the fact that he stabbed Sasuke and it made me laugh all the harder and love him all the more. And why do the girls refer to him as the Raikage's brother...? The best answer I can come up with is that none of them probably know him very well (maybe Sakura would because she's close to Naruto, but then maybe not).

7. ... Shortest notes section ever.

**(I promise, we'll get back to fluff and non-crappy writing next chapter. I swear by it. Sakura's family will be making an appearance soon as will more romantic undertones between our leads.)**

**(Reivew please?)  
**


	13. In Which Things Meander Aimlessly

**House Calls**

**Chapter 13**

**

* * *

**

"So, anyone want to go over with me the first and most basic rule of surviving in the wilderness?" Sakura asked as she scribbled on the clipboard she cradled in her left arm.

"I know!" the girl with the long, ginger braids on her right shouted, her hand shooting into the air. Her purple dress skimmed her mid-thigh and peeking out form the hem were a pair of dark green shorts to match the sash around her waist and the band of her forehead protector that she wore as a headband.

A boy with shaggy brown locks on the cot groaned as he flipped the end of his scarf over his face while the fold of his green top loosened slightly to expose the mesh he wore beneath it. "Shut up, Moegi."

"You're such an idiot." Another boy stood to the right of the cot, his arms folded and his neatly parted hair falling evenly on either side of his glasses, which caught the light along their surface, reflecting it back. His shirt was dark gray and cropped short to reveal the thick bandages wrapped around his midsection that extended below the waist of his standard issue pants. Similar bandages wrapped his arms, from his knuckles up both forearms.

"Shut up, Udon."

"No, he's kind of right. You're an idiot."

"Shut _up_, Moegi!"

Sakura glanced up at the trio briefly and then to Ebisu before looking back to the note she was making. Okay, so Ebisu was probably the last person she should be standing near in little else but a bathrobe (she hated early morning calls), but it was kind of entertaining how he kept looking everywhere but directly at her. "Seriously, I can write you a prescription for tranquilizers," she offered.

Ebisu smiled faintly, even as he rubbed at his temples. "No need; I'm used to the bickering. It doesn't bother me anymore."

"I meant for them."

This startled a snort of laughter out of the usually stoic trainer and he cleared his throat in an attempt to cover it. "Thank you for doing this, Sakura-san," he replied as she offered the clipboard and pen out for him to sign a page. "I know you only treat Jonin, but you were closer than the hospital…"

"It's no problem. A few of the other Chuunin teams have started coming around anyway and I have a soft spot for these three." She spared them a look and smiled as Moegi beamed back at her. "You're welcome anytime."

"Yes, well we'll attempt to limit our future visits anyway," Ebisu said almost entirely to his team, who all suddenly found the ceiling rather fascinating. "We understand that you're very busy with more pressing matters."

"Oh, don't worry about that. Besides, I hear that soon enough you won't need me anymore at all. Udon-kun has been making quite the impression at the hospital."

The bespectacled boy inclined his head respectfully to the medic. "I've had excellent mentors."

Ebisu nodded. "I'm afraid that Udon has a long way to go yet before he replaces you, Sakura-san."

"Oh, quit flirtin' with her!" Konohamaru groaned as he shot up from the cot to glare at them. "I'm sick enough already!"

Sakura was unfazed even as Ebisu spluttered indignantly on her left and Moegi, to her right, bared her teeth at the boy and growled. Casually, she reached out to grab the back of the younger girl's dress, stopping her before she could get in close enough to pound on her teammate. "So Konohamaru-_chan_," she began, "Do you want to go over with me again what exactly motivated you to eat the strange berries in the woods?"

The boy huffed and looked the other way, his shoulders curling slightly as he shrunk under the scrutiny. "No," he muttered.

Sakura nodded as Moegi snickered. "Okay, pop quiz, Udon-kun. What, specifically, were the berries that Konohamaru ate? Consider the duration of his illness compared to the relatively insignificant amount consumed."

Udon pushed his glass into place with the little finger of his left hand. "Ipecac berries. They're an emetic. A powerful one."

Konohamaru raised an eyebrow and looked at his friend with what Sakura was familiar with as the, "in words I know, please?" look. It was almost identical to Naruto's.

"Something that makes you puke," Udon clarified.

The young Sarutobi's eyes lit up. "The hell? Why did you let me eat them if you knew what they were?"

Udon rolled his eyes. "I _didn't_ until you started throwing up everywhere. And what do you mean I let you eat them? You're _sixteen_. I thought that maybe you'd know better by now not to put everything you see in your mouth."

"Well, maybe you're just totally useless!"

Sakura sighed and before another argument could break out she reached behind her for a prescription bottle and casually tossed it at Konohamaru's head. "Those are for the nausea and vomiting; take one whenever the symptoms come back. By the way, where did you find those bushes?"

The boy blinked. "Um, northwest of the gate, about a half-kilometer out. Why?"

She shrugged. "You just inadvertently completed a D-rank mission. Those berries are only available around this time of year and the hospital uses them in some medications. We usually send the Genin teams out to find them, but this works too. Congratulations, Team Ebisu."

Sakura twirled a finger in the air in a sarcastic "_whoopee_" motion as Udon scoffed, Konohamaru grinned, and Moegi smacked her forehead. "Dumb luck strikes again," the girl sighed.

"Emphasis on the dumb," Udon replied. "Sakura-senpai, I'd be happy to go out myself and gather the berries."

She spared him a smile. "Thank you, Udon."

"Kiss ass," Konohamaru grumbled under his breath. "Nee-chan, can I go now?"

Sakura waved dismissively to the door and smiled as Ebisu herded the three out with Moegi leading and the two boys trailing after her, arguing. With a sigh, she tossed the clipboard onto the cupboard and her arms into the air, stretching luxuriously as she yawned.

Well, it wasn't a bad way to start the day. Sure, Konohamaru had puked all over her sidewalk, but that could be hosed off. At least she had gotten through her shower first, which was more than she could say for most other mornings when potential patients dropped by.

Sakura was halfway through another stretch when she heard a raised _voice_ coming from the living room. With a sigh she followed the ruckus and when she reached the kitchen door she paused and propped herself against the frame. Hinata was standing in the front doorway behind Hanabi, her hands resting lightly on her sister's shoulders. Konohamaru was, of course, the source of all the noise and he stood before the second Hyuuga prodigy, pointing a finger at her.

"Hyuuga-sama," Ebisu greeted with a short bow as he reached out and forcibly lowered Konohamaru's arm, "Hyuuga-san."

Hinata smiled warmly at the Jonin and his team. "Good morning, Ebisu-senpai. Good morning, Konohamaru-kun, Moegi-chan, Udon-kun." She paused and then her hands visibly tightened on Hanabi's shoulders.

Hanabi glanced at her sister, who raised her eyebrows meaningfully, and then looked back to the others. "Moegi-chan, Udon-kun," she greeted, earning a smile from the ginger-haired girl and a nod from the boy. She looked then to Konohamaru and then away, "Omago-sama."

Hinata looked heavenward in polite exasperation as Hanabi smirked to herself and Konohamaru snarled. He wound up for what was sure to be a scathing reply when Ebisu's hand clapped over his mouth and his other arm hauled the boy back against his chest. "I'm very sorry about him, Hyuuga-sama." Bowing was awkward when holding a struggling sixteen-year-old back. "You probably have an appointment with Sakura-san that we're keeping you from. Excuse us."

Hinata smiled politely and guided Hanabi to the side to allow the team to step out.

"Aw, that's so cute," Sakura spoke up finally, turning two pairs of milky, white eyes on her. She smiled. "Naruto had a rivalry with Neji for a little bit, now Naruto's miniature is having a rivalry with Neji's miniature."

Hinata shook her head. "She's just trying to be difficult," she said with an accusing look at her sister.

"I am not!" Hanabi protested. "He's just an idiot. I still can't believe that he's the grandson of the Third. Apparently the good genes skipped a generation."

Hinata shot Sakura an exasperated look over her sister's head and Sakura smiled. "Hanabi-chan, give me a minute to get dressed and then we can get to our appointment. I brewed some green tea earlier. Why don't you two go on into the kitchen and have a cup?"

* * *

"So, I take it that you aren't one of Konohamaru's fans?"

Hanabi scoffed softly. "No," she replied coolly in a way that made her sound _remarkably_ like Neji.

"Why not?"

"He's an embarrassment. He never takes _anything_ seriously and he gets by on luck, not any _real_ skill, and the only reason it's tolerated is because his grandfather was the Third." After a breath and a pause the girl shrugged and added, "Moegi-chan and Udon-kun are fine, though. I like them."

Sakura nodded slowly as she ran her chakra along the girls' optic nerves, tracing their paths (and consequentially the paths of the chakra channels that piggybacked them) while working to soothe them at the same time as they were irritated from overuse, which made her frown.

The anatomy of the Hyuuga clan's eyes was really just fascinating. She wished that she would have been able to examine Sasuke's eyes for herself to see just how similar the Sharingan was to the Byakugan. (This led to wishing that she would have stumbled upon her true purpose as a medic sooner, wishing that he would have been around for that, and wishing, wishing, wishing just so many things that she dropped the idea as soon as she was able.)

At least she had Tsunade's and Kabuto's notes on the subject.

"Do you know Rock Lee?"

Hanabi raised an eyebrow. "Of course. He's Neji-niisan's teammate."

Thankfully a distraction resented itself and it was as good a distraction as any. After all, meddling in Hanabi and Konohamaru's rivalry (no matter how adorable and nostalgic it was) was sure to kill time. "And do you like Lee?"

"Well, yes." A faint smiled graced her lips. "I mean, he _is_ ridiculous sometimes, but Nii-san respects him and he's a good shinobi. I spar with him sometimes when Nii-san is away on missions."

"And you know Uzumaki Naruto, correct?"

Hanabi's desire to roll her eyes was palpable. "Yes, of course! Everyone knows who Naruto-senpai is."

Sakura smiled for her teammate at that. Yes, _everyone_ knew who Uzumaki Naruto was.

"And I take you like him too?"

"Well, yes. He's the one who ended the war and Nee-san likes him _a lot_."

Chakra followed the pathways that followed the optic tracts and activated the Byakugan in the optic chiasm, where the nerves and chakra paths crossed one another. From there the chakra flooded the optic nerves and then the eye itself, working in tandem with the unique structure of the Hyuugas' eyes to create the three-sixty field of vision. In order to process all of the incoming information, the occipital lobe was especially well-developed and typically very dense with neurons.

A very tiny part of Sakura understood why Kabuto had felt the need to take a scalpel to this kind of mystery.

"Well, both Naruto and Lee were the dead lasts of their classes."

Hanabi opened her eyes and frowned at the medic. "No way."

Sakura smiled and pulled her hands away from the girl's temples, reaching for her clipboard and pen. "A boy who can't use chakra and a boy who couldn't even manage the simplest transformation jutsu? They sound like dead lasts to me. People used to look down on them the same way you look down on Konohamaru."

Hanabi pursed her lips and eyed the medic skeptically. "_Really_?"

The medic nodded. "You could learn a lot from him I think."

"Like _what_?"

Sakura grinned and poked the girl's forehead as she got to her feet, earning a scornful huff. "Like how to smile for one," she replied, tossing the file onto a counter top to her right. "But enough of that, it's time for me to yell at you for straining your eyes again."

"I haven't!"

"Oh please. I can tell you were training this morning and probably without anyone supervising you because of how badly irritated your nerves were. Neji and Hinata would have stopped you long before reaching that point." She sighed and offered a smile as she moved to take her seat again. "I know you're excited about making Jonin. I know you're looking forward to getting promoted and being able to go on missions with Neji and Hinata and I know you're trying to extend the range of your Byakugan to do it. But you have got to cool it, kid. Your eyes will thank you for it later. Now, do I have to discuss this with your sister and your cousin or can I trust you to be more responsible?"

Hanabi was staring at her feet as she shook her head. "You don't have to tell them."

Sakura nodded. "All right, but I'm holding you to that. This is a one-time offer. The next time you come in here and your eyes are worked raw, I'm skipping over Hinata and Neji and I'm talking to your father."

"Yes, Sakura-senpai."

"Good. So, what flavor sucker do you want? I have grape and cherry."

"Grape, please."

* * *

The Hyuuga sisters were gone within the next hour, after Sakura and Hanabi had finished their suckers. After all, she couldn't do much with Hanabi with her nerves so badly strained, but Hinata would be suspicious if her sister walked in for an exam and then turned around and walked right back out not ten minutes later. Not that it mattered really since Sakura had a feeling that the illusion would all be in vain anyway. She didn't doubt that Hanabi would _try_ to stick to her word; she just understood that the girl had taken pointers from her cousin on work ethic and knew that a slip-up was due.

Which was fine. She wanted to talk to Hiashi anyway to see if he would convince one of the older clan members to let her examine their eyes. After all, having three test subjects was a good start, but all three of them were still quite young and within the same age group. At the moment, her research was based off of a very small sample and that just wouldn't do.

"Yo."

Sakura smiled as a familiar, slouching figure dropped down from a rooftop and landed to her right. Her morning had been a busy one, so she rewarded herself with a walk around the village and a trip to her favorite bakery on the edge of the civilian district, where they served the best chocolate chip melon pan and green tea. Kakashi seemed like a natural addition to her morning routine.

"Good morning, sensei."

He crinkled an eye at her. "You look decidedly more alive this morning than yesterday."

Sakura smiled. "Twenty straight hours of rest will do that," she replied and then more innocently she asked, "You dropped by yesterday? When?"

"Oh, just sometime in the morning after I heard from the border guards that you and the girls were back."

"I see. So, would you happen to know who restocked my fridge and cleaned the laundry room, the breezeway, and the kitchen? I need to hire them full-time. They even got the blood out of my tile grout."

There was an almost visible smile under his mask. "I wouldn't have the faintest."

Sakura elbowed him. "Thank _you_. Well, for the groceries at least. I can't see you cleaning anything to save your own soul."

"My housekeeping isn't _that_ bad."

"Every time I put something in your fridge, I'm afraid that whatever's growing in the bottom drawer is going to grab me."

"It isn't attractive for a young woman to tell such stories, Sakura-chan."

"I think we need to name it."

He finally laughed at that and Sakura smiled and sipped her green tea. "So, did the mission get any better?" he asked after a long pause.

She shrugged. "Not really. There was a minor insurrection during the wedding reception led by a branch clan that managed to break the monotony a bit, though."

"Branch clans can usually be relied on for that sort of thing."

* * *

Sakura hummed and Kakashi spared her a quick glance before looking away again. For a reason that he couldn't quite pin down, seeing her again felt a little like it had after returning from that three month mission. The relief was the same, which didn't make sense, really. She hadn't even been gone a full two weeks and it wasn't like the mission she had taken was a particularly dangerous one—C-ranks were something Genin regularly took.

Nevertheless, the feeling was there and at the moment he was genuinely… happy. Not giddy or happy like he was when they gave him morphine at the hospital (the _only_ thing worth going in for), but a peaceful, relaxed sort of happy. Like everything was back in its place.

"The boys cleaned your house," he offered after a while.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "_Really_ now? I'm not sure if I believe you. You might be the great Copy-nin, but I'm pretty sure Naruto doesn't even know how a sponge works."

Kakashi shrugged. "They just needed the right motivation."

"Uh-huh. I'm sure you were more than happy to provide them with it."

"Anything for my team."

She laughed at that and shook her head. "You're horrible," she scolded. She seemed to ponder this for a moment and then glanced over at him, "Think you can convince them to clean my bathroom too?"

He looked to her with his eye widened in mock horror. "I'm shocked and appalled, Sakura! How could you think of taking advantage of your teammates' love for you in such a way? That's deplorable, that's awful, that's way, _way_ too easy. At least make it a challenge."

More laughter and he smiled at the way she grabbed onto his arm and hugged it tightly. "Just get my bathroom cleaned."

"Actually, I was thinking about putting that sort of thing on the D-rank mission list for Genin."

"I can't afford to pay for that."

Kakashi shrugged. "You feed, board, and heal their ninja at your own home on a regular basis. They can pay a few Genin every now and then to take care of some things for you."

"I think I'd feel less guilty about making Naruto and Sai do it. I take care of you guys because I _want_ to. I never expected to get any privileges for it."

"Privileges? I think you'd be doing the Genin teams a favor. For example, most of them would probably prefer cleaning your house to chasing that woman's cat."

"Tora? I thought she finally escaped."

"Madam Shijimi got another one."

"Oh. The poor thing."

Kakashi nudged her shoulder gently with his. "Genin could do worse for an employer. You probably won't make them work nearly as hard as they should."

Sakura smiled at him and shook her head. "I'll think about it. My house is clean for now so it's not going to be a concern for—"

"Another few days?"

She slapped his arm. "I'm not that bad of a housekeeper either. Besides, the guys do try to pick up after themselves… for the most part… sometimes…" She paused and then, because her defense was wearing thin, she slapped his arm again. "Like I said, I'll think about it."

Kakashi nodded and watched her for a moment as her attention wandered to a shopkeeper who had paused from sweeping his front walk to wave to her. He decided that it hadn't been just her absence that had thrown him off. It had something to do with _this_ too. These moments of mundane conversation, of bantering at each other; they were some of the better moments that filled his days between missions (hell, they were some of the better moments _during_ missions as well). And that didn't particularly bother him. They were close. As strange as it was for him, he didn't begrudge it. In all honesty, he liked being a part of her life, being one of her 'boys', because in the same way that he really actually liked being Asuka's favorite, he liked Sakura's fussing.

What bothered him was the fact that he had been thrown off at all. When did that happen? He had just spent three months away from Konoha and, sure, he had missed her but it hadn't been quite so acute. Then again, he had been on a mission at the time and sufficiently distracted…

"I missed you," he said disbelievingly and _out _loud before he could stop himself.

Sakura's head turned sharply around to look at him. "What?" she asked.

He blinked at her and considered trying to lie but knew that she probably had really heard him. Her ears were nearly as keen as his. "I missed you," he repeated and to his own surprise, the words came out easily, feeling as natural as anything he told her.

Sakura looked perplexed for all of a half-second before she laughed. "_Good_," she said, reaching out to pet his arm affectionately (before picking a ball of fuzz off of his sleeve and flicking it away), "Because I miss you and the boys like crazy when I'm gone. It's nice to know that I'm not just being a _girl_ about it. It was especially brutal this trip."

"How's that?"

Yes, _anything_ to get the focus off of him.

"Well, when I mentioned your name to the girls from Wave, they just about orgasmed on the spot," she replied.

Her choice of words startled a laugh out of Kakashi. "Really now?"

"Oh, yes. And, just for your information, you are, according to them, the most powerful ninja living with the body and face of a god—that's why you hide your face, you know, so mere mortals don't succumb to fainting fits at the sight—and a sexual track record that would make Jiraiya jealous… or proud, I haven't decided." She spared him a wry look, one hand propped on her hip. "What exactly did you _do_ in Wave?"

He rubbed at the back of his neck. So much for shifting the focus; it looked like he just made it worse. "You're not interested in that."

Sakura scoffed. "Yeah, because I've proven to be just _so_ against the idea of snooping around in your past."

Kakashi chuckled and his resolve broke when she fixed him with that same look she wore when she was studying his Sharingan or when she was particularly engrossed by a new medical text. It was that eagerness to learn and _know _that he had ignored so often in the past. "Well, it was during the Third Shinobi War…"

* * *

"How's that feel?"

"The same as it always does."

"And by that you mean 'weird', right?"

"Yep."

"Could you be any _less_ of a help?"

"I don't know. I could try if you want."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Kakashi was sitting cross-legged on the couch, facing her as she sat on her knees opposite of him, her hands poised at his temples in a stance that was becoming all-too familiar. After a moment longer, she dropped them back to her lap. "We'll take a ten minute break," she sighed, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and getting to her feet. "I'm going to make some tea and you can catch me up on everything I missed around here in the mean time."

Kakashi shrugged. "There was nothing to miss. Konoha doesn't exactly roll out the sake casks and throw a party the minute you leave. I mean, they _do_ but we're not supposed to say anything."

Sakura rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm surprised that Naruto hasn't come by yet."

"I'm not. He gets really annoying when you're not around. I told Tsunade-sama that he needed to work more on his diplomatic relations with all of the ninja clans, so I imagine she has him very busy doing the rounds."

Her eyes narrowed at him slightly. "The only reason I'm not going to scold you for taking advantage of your position as Naruto's advisor is because that isn't a bad idea, even if you did suggest it just to give him work to do. What's Sai been up to?"

"Don't know. Haven't seen him since the last time Naruto bothered me. That was almost a week ago."

A muscle in Sakura's cheek twitched. If not summoned for a mission or training or just dragged out of his apartment to be led around the village by the hand, Sai was given to just sequestering himself away until he was needed. She feared what she'd find when she went over to see him.

The ringing of the telephone dragged her from her reverie and mindlessly she reached out to pick it up off its cradle as she dragged a glass container out of overhead cupboard. "Hello, you've reached Haruno Sakura."

_"Sakura! Well, this is a surprise. You're hardly ever home, honey."_

Sakura smiled at the familiar voice. "Well, this is just an incredibly life-like recording implemented by ninja just to make people think we're at home. Sorry, Mom."

She heard Kakashi shift behind her and did her best to ignore him as she kicked herself for saying the 'M' word.

_"Oh, stop teasing and tell me how you've been. I haven't heard from you in a while."_

That had never been nearly as subtle as the woman thought. "I just got back from a mission yesterday morning," she said, lifting a wrought iron teapot from her stove and moving it to the sink to fill it. "Sorry, if you were trying to get a hold of me. What's up?"

_"Nothing of any real importance; it's just that the family is throwing a small party on the first just to get everyone together. Do you think you can make it?"_

If there was one thing that Kakashi had taught her, it was how to spot a trap. "I… think so, maybe." Sometimes the hardest ones to avoid, he had said, are the most obvious of all. "Should I bring anything with me?"

_"Oh, just a dish to pass."_

"Can do."

_"And maybe some wine, if you want."_

"Sure."

_"And, if you'd like, you can bring some of your friends."_

_This_ gave Sakura pause and for good reason. The only friend she had that her mother knew was Ino and if the woman had _meant _Ino, she would have mentioned her by name. As it stood, the directive was a little too ambiguous for comfort. "You're angling for something," she said.

_"Am I?"_

"Mom."

_ "Sakura. It's been seven years."_

Oh. So this was going to be _that_ party. That party that she had known was coming since she joined Team Seven. It was the "Introduce Your Team to Us" party; also known as the "We Want to Know What Sort of Men You Spend All of Your Time With" party.

"I don't even know if they'll be in town and they're really busy men, so they don't exactly have the time to—"

_"I'm sure they'll be available. I'll let you go now, sweetie. Love you. Bye."_

There was a soft click and then the dial tone, which almost sounded like it was mocking her as it droned in her ear. Numbly, Sakura placed the phone back on its cradle and began to massage her temples.

"So, a party?"

She glanced back at Kakashi, who was seated on the couch now with his head tipped over the back to look at her while trying and failing to appear innocent. After all, it wasn't as if he had just been abusing his extra sensitive hearing in order to eavesdrop on her. "_Yeah_."

"Sounds like fun," he murmured insincerely.

"Yeah."

Kakashi stared thoughtfully at the ceiling for a moment and then looked back to her. "Does the fact that I went to the festival get me out of this?"

"I thought you'd want to meet my family," she replied with a quirked eyebrow.

"Honestly, I'm not that interested."

She scoffed and turned back to her tea-making. "Well, too bad. This is the first time she's ever been _that _direct about asking me to bring you guys and she'll be unbearable at the party if I show up alone. So the _only_ way you're getting out of suffering through this with me, like a good friend, is if you can come up with some kind of excuse that gets us _both_ out of it."

"... Horrific food poisoning?"

"Hm… both of us?"

"No, no. Just me because your mother would worry if you were sick too. However, _I'll _need _someone_ to dab at my fevered brow. At my apartment. Where your mother can't call repeatedly to check in."

Sakura gave this a moment of thought. "That could work. After all, I never could get you to go to the hospital and if you're throwing up you'll need someone looking after you to make sure you don't get dehydrated."

"Well of course. You know I can't be trusted to take care of myself."

"All right. Consider it a date."

"Good."

* * *

"Aw, but I wanna go to the party!"

Kakashi looked to Sakura, alarmed. If there was anything that could break her resolve, it was a whining Naruto. He knew it had been a mistake to let the boy in on their plan. "Too late," he said quickly. "Sakura doesn't even want to go, right Sakura?"

"Right."

Naruto pouted. He was hovering over Sakura as she chopped vegetables for stir-fry. (Kakashi refused to feel guilty for letting her cook for them. He had bought the vegetables after all.) "C'mon, Sakura! I've never met your family before," the blond wheedled.

Sakura frowned at him. "You know, it's really sad when _you_ want to see my family more than I do."

"Yeah," he deadpanned in reply, "it kind of is, isn't it?"

She scowled. "I was trying to imply that _you_ were the weirdo. Naruto, I know my family. Believe me; this party isn't going to be that great."

"_C'mon_! Sai wants to go too, right Sai? Sai!"

Sai glanced up from his sketchpad and blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Just say yes."

"Yes."

"See!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and Kakashi mentally cheered her on. "Naruto, family stuff is _boring_."

A sudden change came over the boy and he looked down to the floor. "I wouldn't really know," he said with a shrug and a sheepish laugh as he rubbed at the back of his head. "I've never really been to any family stuff. I mean, except for what we do together. And Iruka-sensei."

Kakashi watched Sakura's stare waver and nearly got up and punched the boy. He could see his day of lounging around while she pretended to care for him quickly slipping from his hands. "Sakura," he said warningly.

Sakura glanced from Naruto to him and then back. "It isn't fair when you play the sad orphan card," she pouted, stomping her foot childishly as she worried her lip between her teeth.

Naruto smiled faintly and shrugged. "Sorry. Forget I said anything, Sakura-chan."

That seemed to do it. "Oh fine!" the girl snapped abruptly. "We'll go! And you're going too, Kakashi! Hell, if I'm handling these two alone!"

"Ha, yes!" the blond crowed, throwing his hands triumphantly up into the air.

Kakashi narrowed his eye at Sakura. "I'm so disappointed in you."

"Oh, shut _up_."

* * *

1. Okay, so you guys are great. Thanks so much for your concern; you really are are the best and I love ya for it. I'm feeling a lot better as of late and I hope it shows.

2. In fact, I'm feeling so much better, you get one of my rants. Well, not really a rant. Just an observation. Okay, so it's just me being insane, but here we go

You may notice that I portrayed Udon as being a fairly snarky medic-nin rather than a drippy-nosed nerd. That's because I think he'll grow up to be evil. Maybe Evil for the sake of good, like some awesome backwards Chaotic Evil Wild Card, but evil nonetheless. Here's my logic: Evil, being a generational thing rather than an inheritable trait in the Naruto universe, seems to follow a certain pattern. Mostly it's a game of "Spot the Orochimaru Analogue". So, give this a moment of thought. Moegi seems to idolize Sakura, Konohamaru obviously idolizes Naruto, and it's been said that Udon idolizes Sasuke. ... See where I'm going? That and the kid wears Kabuto's glasses. I'm not kidding, go look at a picture! They're exactly the same! Either the Konoha optometrist only offers one pair of frames, or Udon is evil. Besides, it makes him so much more interesting if you envision him growing up that way. (And then all the lovely psychology that would go into it, because after two generations of this kind of thing, I think Ebisu, Konohamaru, and Moegi would kind of see it coming.) Also, I made him the medic-nin because I just can't picture Moegi being one. I just can't. I almost see her being a weapons user like Tenten or a Taijutsu specialist, but not a medic-nin. Also, it's just too damn obvious. She's Sakura's counterpart, not her clone.

3. Why do they get such a large scene? Mostly because I didn't know how to start the chapter, my mind jumped onto the above train of thought, and I rode it all the way to page 6. I actually love the younger generation and YES I think Konohamaru would probably put strange berries in his mouth. (And Ipecac is a real-life emetic, except it comes from the root of a plant that grows in South America. According to my mother, it does its job well.)

4. I based Hanabi's bit here off of my own initial feelings towards Konohamaru. Plus, I mentioned her looking up to Neji and it just seems logical that she'd target Naruto's mini-me. Also for a perspective on ages: I think Moegi, Udon, and Konohamaru would all be around 15-16 and Hanabi, if my math is right, would be around 14.

5. Sakura keeps suckers in her exam room. Didn't your doctor do that?

6. I almost feel like I didn't do Kakashi justice in this chapter, but then I also regularly aim to make him something other than an emotionally constipated jackass, so I guess there's a fine line to be walked. I just happen to feel like I'm wearing beer goggles.

7. My notes are FRIGHTENINGLY chapter-related this time around. I feel like I have to do something non-sequitur-ish to break up-

8. ABOOLGYWOOGYWOO!

9. There, I feel better.

10. Oddly enough, I didn't mean to make fun of fangirls via the triplets. Last chapter. This chapter it was totally intentional. I'm not saying that Kakashi CAN'T be an absolutely Bishonen-esque sex god, because that's fun and what else is fanfiction for? I'm just saying I'd rather think of him as an attractive, ordinary if socially-awkward guy who is a little dogged by his past and very talented and capable of incredible things and who probably isn't a virgin, but isn't some sort of slut. Although, I can't actually argue with the fangirls who swing the other way entirely and picture him as a Woobie-esque man-virgin afraid of intimacy because somewhere in me there's a very tiny dominatrix-y part that is just in LOVE with that idea... um... forget I said that. Because we all like to think that we'd be the ones to bring him out of his shell... oh admit it!

11. Now that you've had a disturbing look into my mind (as if that isn't what all of these notes essentially ARE), let's change the subject. I rather like how Mommy Haruno comes screaming into the plot from stage left with all of the subtlety of the Joker's wardrobe. And she brings a party with her. If you guys ever get the feeling that I'm sort of aimlessly stumbling from one plot idea to the next, you're wrong. It'd be more accurate to picture me blindfolded, drunk (on Kool-Aid), and throwing darts at a Decision-Making Dartboard. It might help, though, to keep in mind that the party is going to provide some fluff. Say it with me: YAY FLUFF! (Now say it with me in French: YAY le FLUFF! And now in Pirate: SHIVER ME FLUFFY TIMBERS! ... I'm feeling SO much better this chapter.)

12. Oh, by the way guys, I'm totally going to be an aunt in the near future.

13. May 5th to be exact. Mom and I have already bought 5 pairs of pajamas. We're a _little _excited.

14. ABOOLGYWOOGYWOO!

**(Reviews are love. I love love. Besides, I'll need something to read in between cramming for my exams. So please review!)**


	14. In Which the Party Begins

**House Calls**

**Chapter 14**

**

* * *

**

"Maybe it won't be so bad."

"Yeah."

"I mean, Naruto is Konoha's Golden Boy now and Sai is… normal-ish and Kakashi will be there… although maybe that's not really a point in your favor…"

Sakura scowled. She was sitting on her bed, facing Ino, the two of them dressed in pajamas and surrounded by bottles of nail polish, files, and nail clippers. "I forget, Pig. Are you trying to _comfort_ me here or what?"

Ino scowled. "I'm _trying_ but it isn't all that easy," she replied, turning Sakura's fingertip to one side and artfully painted on a coat of jade green polish. "Do you want me to come? I can bring Shika and Cho with me. I mean, they're not perfect, but they're at least kind of used to family stuff. I mean, it's horrible to say it out loud, but if you think about it, your boys were all basically raised by wolves."

Sakura sighed. "Yeah, no kidding, but that isn't what I'm worried about. My family is just… you _know_ I love them, but they're… well, they're _embarrassing_. And they're civilians, all of them. I mean, you've got it easy. You family at least understands what you do. I just don't know how they'll act toward the boys…"

"Well, most things still go over Sai's head," Ino offered with a cringe, "And Naruto's been working on diplomacy stuff, so he should be able to look the other way rather than, you know, flying off the handle. If nothing else, Kakashi is at least good for that kind of thing, isn't he?"

Yes, he was. The thought was definitely comforting. Kakashi was not one to lose his cool, not even when faced with the most difficult people, so there was little doubt that he could take whatever her family's reaction was in stride. It was simply that, if the reaction was negative, she didn't want to ask him to do so.

In fact, Sai might go about blissfully clueless, Kakashi might be able to wave off every personal insult aimed at him like he did enemy kunai, and Naruto might be mature enough to grit his teeth and bear that sort of thing, but she wasn't entirely sure _she_ would be able to manage any of that. It'd be a damn shame if she had to launch one of her own relatives through a wall. That might make family gatherings in the future awkward. But come to think of it, that might make family gatherings in the future _nonexistent_.

Now, which uncle had told her she had chubby thighs when she was thirteen? He seemed as logical a candidate as any if he opened his mouth.

"So, what are you going to wear?"

Sakura rolled her eyes, partly at Ino's question (typical Ino), but also at her own thoughts. Even she knew she wasn't giving her family the credit they deserved. She just wanted this anxiety she felt at the prospect of them meeting her boys to be justified in some rational way. "I have a sundress in my closet that should work."

"And what are you going to make the boys wear?"

"Tea towels if they want."

Ino tossed her head back and laughed. "_What_?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm not going to make them dress up for this," Sakura replied with a shrug. "It's not that big of a deal and if I bring that sort of stipulation into the game Kakashi's likely to go underground to hide and I can't very well dig up all of Konoha looking for him."

"Good point," the blond conceded. "So… you're just going to let them go as they are, huh?"

"If my family wants to meet them, they can meet them as they are."

Ino nodded. "Bold move," she said. With a flourish she finished Sakura's pinkie and smiled. "So, what color for your toe nails?"

"I don't know if want a color."

"Well, if you're going to get buried tomorrow, you might as well be rocking a _fabulous_ pedicure. How about something neutral?"

Sakura hummed quietly in agreement as she held her hands out in front of her, her fingers spread wide and her wrists stiff to avoid marring the still-wet polish.

"Hey, Forehead?" Ino glanced over at her friend as she sorted through the various bottles of polish. "Don't worry so much. Your boys love and fear you so I'm sure they'll be on their best behavior. As for your family, it doesn't matter if they understand your job, because they love you and you don't do it just for them anyway. All of the boys certainly appreciate—ah-ha!"

Sakura smiled as Ino plucked a bottle of sparkling, champagne-colored polish and waved it teasingly in front of her. "Pig?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

The blond girl offered a grin in reply. "No problem. Now, give me your foot."

* * *

"Well?"

"I'm thinking."

"You realize that taking this long to come up with a compliment could be considered an insult, right?"

"Thank you. That will be noted. However, given your past reactions to things I've said, I feel I need to think this out carefully."

"Well, I can't argue with that kind of tactical thinking. Take your time."

Kakashi smiled faintly to himself as he listened from the kitchen table to Sai and Sakura, the latter of which was moving pale green and pink daifuku from a box on the counter to a decorative serving platter. "Sakura, where did you get those?" he asked as he turned a page.

She grinned. "Well, as you know I'm an excellent pastry chef."

"Akimichi clan?"

"Yep." Sakura placed two more cakes delicately on the plate. "Mom just told me to bring a dish; she didn't specify that it had to be made by me."

"They just happened to have them on hand?"

She snorted. "Have you ever _been_ to the Akimichi house? I'm not quite sure how Chouji's mom does it, but the kitchen is always _packed_ with this kind of stuff. I think I gain weight just walking in the door sometimes." Her attention turned then to Sai and she smiled at him. "Still working on it?"

The boy nodded. He was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, surveying the girl in a serious and calculating manner. Helpfully she turned a pirouette, flashing Kakashi a grin as she did so. Her hair was down, held back by a thin, white ribbon worn like a headband, and her matching dress was pretty if plain.

"Kakashi-senpai?" Sai beckoned, looking to him for assistance.

Kakashi glanced up from his book again. He honestly couldn't tell what the boy was struggling with. Sakura looked nice. Like always. How Sai hadn't picked up on this pattern yet was astounding. Although, he supposed that if he had Sai's history with Sakura's fists, he'd be hesitant too. "Go for something simple," he advised. Well, there was no reason to _give_ the boy the answers. If he could survive ANBU, he could figure this out.

Sai replied with a huff of frustration.

"Hey, guys!" Naruto called from the other room, his voice followed by the sound of the front door closing. "We should get—wow, Sakura, you look really nice."

"Thank you, Naruto," Sakura replied, looking to the blond who appeared in the doorway and then to Sai before smiling. "See? It's not hard."

Especially if Naruto could manage it without sticking his foot directly down his own throat.

"Working on compliments again?" the blond asked with a grin as he moved to stand behind Sakura, reaching around her for one of the desserts and promptly getting his hand slapped out of the way. "Ow! Sakura-chan!"

"They're for the party," she replied curtly.

Naruto grinned. "Well, I'm going to be _at_ the party. Doesn't that count?"

"You're lucky if I let you have one even when we're there. You're the reason I even agreed to go to this thing."

"Aw c'mon!" he laughed, grabbing her by the shoulders. "It's going to be great. I bet your family is a lot of fun."

And Kakashi was willing to bet that Sakura knew what to expect better than Naruto, who had never met her family. In fact, he was very confident about that. Sakura wasn't (now that she was no longer living to impress anyone) given to dismissing someone because they were merely embarrassing (as proven by the inexplicable way Gai seemed to genuinely entertain her). He imagined that this applied to her family as well. If they were simply obnoxious, Sakura would, in all likelihood, just grin and bear it because both Naruto and Sai had spent the last several years unwittingly giving her hours of training in that field.

He suspected that her discomfort had a lot more to do with the fact that her family was civilian. After all, when discussing the party with her mother initially, she had sounded bored and reluctant, but she had only begun considering hiding out at his apartment pretending to nurse him back to health after her mother mentioned bringing him and the boys along.

"Sakura-chan?" Kakashi asked after she had sent Naruto and Sai out into the breezeway to take out the garbage. He got up from his seat to stand beside her at the counter.

Sakura was glowering at the door, her lips pursed as if she was trying to decide whether to yell or not. The boys sounded like they were sparring with the bins. Apparently deciding to save her breath, she looked to him and the scowl disappeared. "What's up?"

"You doing all right?"

He wasn't sure why he was asking. He wasn't even _quite_ sure why he was even there. Sakura was a brilliant kunoichi, he'd give her that, but he wasn't exactly burn out yet and he liked to think he could give her a run for her money any day. Then again, she was the only reason he hadn't been caged up in the hospital in so long. He had reason enough to believe that that would promptly end if he bailed out on her, but that felt more like a perk of staying, not the reason for it.

Sakura smiled at the platter of daifuku. "I'm fine."

"Good."

"You?"

"Not too bad."

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "You can still run."

Seriously, how did she do that? "I'm aware of that."

"Weighing your choices?"

Kakashi glanced down at her and smiled. "You know me, Sakura. I'd never leave a comrade behind."

"Oh, that applies to this situation?"

Sure. He could roll with that. It was as good an excuse as any, really. "Doubly so, I think."

Sakura laughed and nodded as she moved two more cakes onto the platter. "Good to know. At any rate, I've been planning a few escape routes."

"Really?" he asked. "Pondering all of the most convenient windows?"

Sakura shook her head. "Nope. Mom might have better hearing than _you_. As soon as she hears a window even unlatch, she'll be all over my case. It's like she knows _exactly_ which windows make what sound. It's almost scary. However, there is a staircase I can pretend to throw myself down in order to not really break my ankle."

"That's a bit pointless, you being a medic," Kakashi replied with a frown.

"I think that's where a lie about my chakra being drained comes in." She placed a lid carefully over the platter and then turned to face him, propping one hand on the counter and the other on her hip. "Last chance to escape, Hatake."

"That's beginning to sound like a challenge." He folded his arms and cocked his head to the side to look at her straight on. "You're not _trying_ to get me to back-out are you? I do recall you mentioning that you were embarrassed to introduce me before."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him in reply, her lips quirking at the corner in wry amusement. "Believe me. After seven years, you've more or less embarrass-proofed me," she replied and then, after a pause she added, "But if you start reading one of those filthy books in front of my family I'll be forced to break every one of your fingers in increasingly creative ways."

He grinned. "Come on now… they're _your_ filthy books too."

"I'm serious, Kakashi-sensei."

"I'm offended, Sakura-chan. I know how to behave in front of others."

"You didn't even know how to behave in front of twelve-year-olds," she retorted as she picked the platter up. "C'mon, guys! We're going to be late!"

* * *

"Wow, never been to this part of Konoha before."

Sakura looked to Naruto and raised an eyebrow. She was carrying the dessert platter in front of her as Sai walked on her right with Naruto leading the pack and Kakashi trailing. "I guess you wouldn't," she said. "It's the civilian district."

"So, you grew up around here?" Naruto asked.

"Yep."

He laughed. "No wonder you were always so cranky when we were younger. It's a long way to the training fields from here."

"No kidding," she agreed with a giggle. "But it was all right. I liked running. I was cranky because my teammates were morons."

Naruto grinned at her and gently bumped his shoulder against hers, earning a nudge in return. "Kakashi-sensei!" he called over his shoulder, glancing back at the man that was trailing just behind them. "You ever been around here?"

The man looked up from his book (Sakura made a note to at least _try_ to take it away from him before they got to the party) and then swept the street with a cursory glance. "I've passed through," he replied. "I can't say I've ever had the occasion to spend much time in the civilian districts."

Sakura didn't doubt it. Most ninja, especially those whose families were steeped in the job, didn't often frequent the civilian quarter because there wasn't really a need to do so. There were only a handful of stores and restaurants and then private residences—nothing of relevance to anyone who didn't live in the area.

"If your family members aren't ninja, what do they do?" Sai asked.

"They're merchants," Sakura explained with a shrug. "My great grandfather started the business and my uncles are in charge of it now. They move goods from Konoha to other cities, mostly Suna and Kusa, sometimes Lightning and Earth now Konoha's on good-ish terms with them."

"Sounds boring," Naruto noted.

She smiled. "It _is_ boring. Just keep that in mind if one of my uncles wants to talk work with you."

"How many of your relatives will be there?" Kakashi wondered.

Sakura glanced back at him, frowning. "I'm not sure. Well, this is the Haruno clan so… three uncles and four aunts and they're all married except one, so that's thirteen there. Then my grandparents and probably all of my younger cousins…that's probably eighteen kids, twenty with my grandparents… so, thirty-three all together. Thirty-four counting my mom."

"Really?" Naruto was grinning from ear-to-ear. "Wow, you're lucky, Sakura. It must be fun to have such a big family."

"It can be," she replied with a smile.

They talked for a while and then as Naruto and Sai got into a discussion about the literal and figurative meanings of "family" (Naruto oh-so-eloquently explaining that their team was a family too because they just _were_), Sakura fell back to walk with Kakashi.

"Do you want me to carry that?" he asked, gesturing to the platter in her hands.

"Oh, I'm fine," she replied. "You just keep reading; get it out of your system before we get to the party."

His eye creased slight in a smile, but it faded quickly as he looked ahead to the boys and then back to her. "What are you so worked up about?"

"I'm not worked up."

"Right."

Sakura sighed and spared him a narrow look before looking away again. "My family… they're good people and I don't really think they'll have a problem with you or the boys.

"So, what's the problem?"

"I don't know," she murmured. At the same time, she was trying to suppress the slight thrill of pleasure that this conversation seemed to warrant more attention than Icha Icha, as his question had been punctuated by the quick clap of his book closing. "I told you that I never wanted these aspects of my life to meet. It's just making me nervous that they're about to. You must know how that feels. You were sort of doing the same thing before Naruto and I interfered."

Kakashi nodded slowly. "Except the hardest part for me was opening my apartment up to you. Introducing you to family would have been different."

"I know, but I still don't have much of an excuse to worry," Sakura said with a little laugh. "It isn't like I'm five and they can forbid me from ever playing with you guys again and even if they don't like you, they'll still be polite. It… I don't know. I'm just being silly I guess."

It was about five seconds into the following silence that Sakura began to wish that she could turn around and run away with any hope at all of actually _getting_ away. But that wasn't going to happen (especially since she didn't have a prayer of outrunning Kakashi, even if she managed to get away from Naruto and Sai, the Kyuubi-powered and ROOT-trained jerks).

A heavy hand on her back stopped Sakura's thoughts in their tracks and she looked quickly up to Kakashi, whose gloved palm was pressed into the mid of her spine, warm and strong and reassuring. "Everything will be all right," he said firmly. His eye creased at her, this time more deeply than the last. "I promise."

Sakura marveled at the sense of relief that wash over her, at fact that those words had the same effect on her right then that they had when she was younger. After all, Kakashi might not have always kept his promises, but he certainly always tried.

* * *

Kakashi made it a point to keep step with Sakura. It wasn't that he thought she was going to turn and run… okay, so that's _exactly_ what he thought, but that wasn't the only reason. Her anxiety was clear and he was her teammate. It was his job to back her up. After all, if anything a party had the advantage of being, at worst, awkward instead of life-threatening. (It was really just a perk that it might give him the chance to smack Naruto once or twice; an urge he had felt since the blond had talked Sakura into reconsidering her plans to skip out.)

But, a nagging little voice at the rear of his mind interjected, why was he there at all? It wasn't as if Sakura would be going in this alone if he wasn't there. She had Naruto and Sai.

Well, that answered that.

Naruto could be, even at his best, hard to take and easy to rile, no matter how well he was doing under Tsunade's tutelage, and Sai still had to be led by the hand through even the most basic social situations. Sure, he himself wasn't exactly the most gregarious of men and he did go out of his way to be alone sometimes, but he had probably the best shot at making a good impression on Sakura's family.

And wasn't that just a little sad for Sakura.

"All right, here we are."

Trees were dense through the neighborhood, casting all of the houses with shade. The yards weren't very big, but hedgerows and fences gave a sense of privacy and it didn't surprise Kakashi when Sakura shouldered opened a gate door to find that her front yard was thick with flowers. She smiled over her shoulder at him and the boys and then led the way up the stone walk to the front door, which Naruto ran ahead to open for her.

Kakashi ushered Sai ahead of him and then paused in the doorway. A staircase ran up the wall just to the right upon entering connecting to a second floor hallway that was open on both sides to the lower level. He frowned when he thought he saw a pair of shadows flickering just off to the left and out of sight and began to listen for movement as he scanned the rest of the house.

They had stepped right into what looked like the living room, which was opened to both the kitchen and dining room. The entire far wall was composed of a system of folding doors, all of them opened and allowing them to look out at the party without being noticed.

"I don't think I've ever seen so many people with pink hair," Naruto noted with a laugh as he peered outside where more than a few heads of varying shades of pink hair were visible.

Sakura laughed. "Where did you think I got—"

Kakashi didn't let her finish when he saw two pairs of hands hoist water balloons over the banister. With the casualness allotted by years of saving her from far more lethal things, he grabbed Sakura around the middle and hauled her backwards into him. Not a second later, the balloons splattered on the wood floor in her place. Sakura seemed entranced by the mess as Kakashi caught two pairs of brown eyes staring down at them from between the spindles, one head topped with hot pink hair and the other with pale blond.

Both sets went wide when Sakura snapped to reality. Her whole body went tense against Kakashi as she looked sharply upwards and promptly put on what Naruto had long ago dubbed her 'demon face'. "Eiji! Kichiro!" she barked. "I hope you _planned_ on dying young!"

Rather than turning tail and taking off, they lingered, which surprised Kakashi. Then, either motivated by bald-faced stupidity or comfortable familiarity with the hollowness of most of Sakura's threats, one of them actually popped into full-view, leveraging his weight against the railing and lifting his feet off the floor. "Are those your teammates?" he asked, his eyes bright with excitement

Sakura snorted irritably. "Yes."

"What's with the mask?" the other one wondered, sounding skeptical at best.

"He's a ninja, stupid!"

"So are the other two! And I'm not stupid!"

"Someone better have a good explanation for this mess."

The two boys immediately fled at the voice; their footsteps pounding down the hallway and quickly becoming inaudible as a woman stepped inside from the party. She smiled warmly and Kakashi realized that the resemblance between her and Sakura, aside from her decidedly brown hair, was almost uncanny.

Immediately, he dropped his bracing arm from Sakura's waist.

"Eiji and Kichiro?" the woman asked.

Sakura smiled faintly. "Yeah. I can go find them and bring them down here to clean this up if you want."

"Oh, we both know that no one would ever see them again if you got hold of them." She smiled and stepped forward, embracing her daughter as much as the dessert platter between them would allow. "It's good to see you."

"You too, Mom," Sakura murmured. She turned away from her mother then, the woman's arm lingering around her shoulders as they both faced the boys. "Mom, these are my teammates. Uzumaki Naruto, Sai, and Hatake Kakashi. Guys, this is my mom, Haruno Akane."

Kakashi ducked his head in a quick bow (feeling some pride and remorse at not having to smack Naruto to get him to do the same). "Haruno-san, it's a pleasure to meet you."

The woman laughed and mirrored the short bow. "The pleasure is mine, Hatake-san. You three have been my daughter's most closely guarded secret for a long time now."

"Mom," Sakura scolded.

Akane smiled sweetly. "I like hearing you say that that way every once in a while," she noted as she reached out to lovingly stroking Sakura's hair. "It reminds me of what you were a little girl and it makes me feel young again. What did you bring?"

"Daifuku," Sakura replied.

"Homemade?"

"Yep."

"In _your_ home?"

Sakura scowled and Kakashi thought that he might get to like her mother. "Do I lose points if not?"

Akane simply smiled again and then turned and strode off towards the kitchen. Wordlessly, Sakura followed.

* * *

"I'm a little disappointed."

Not a shocker, Sakura decided as she sat the tray of daifuku on the only available spot on the countertop, which was otherwise occupied by dozens of dishes, some covered and others not. "In what?"

Akane smiled at her daughter brightly. "You've never mentioned how _handsome_ any of them were."

"I suppose I was too busy admiring them for their loyalty, talent, and skill."

"You're cranky," Akane noted with a glance over her shoulder. "You shouldn't have come if you didn't want to."

For a moment, Sakura found herself standing in awe of her mother. Yes, of course she was angry because the woman was downright infuriating, but the ease with which she said such a thing was really mind-boggling. They both knew that Sakura hadn't had a choice. That was just an understood.

"So, Hatake-san was your teacher?"

Sakura was actually grateful for the subject change. Otherwise, she might have imploded under the urge to argue. "Yes."

"He seems nice. Very polite."

Not exactly what she had been expecting. In fact, it was rather anti-climatic. Seven years of occasionally pondering what her mother would think of her ever-masked ex-sensei, present team leader, and friend and that was the woman's assessment? It wasn't even that accurate, because polite was not the word one typically used to describe Kakashi on most occasions.

"Naruto-san and Sai-san seem very nice too."

"They are."

Akane glanced back at her daughter, while arranging a plate of appetizers. "Was it so hard? To bring them here, I mean."

"You can't ask me that; we haven't even been here ten minutes," Sakura replied, leaning backwards into a counter and staring up at the ceiling. A brief wave of nostalgia washed over her. How many times had they been in this position over the years?

"Why do you worry so much? They're your teammates, they keep you safe. How could we not like them?"

Well, it didn't really matter if they did or not.

The thought surprised even Sakura. Hadn't it been their approval that she feared being denied? Wasn't it important that they liked her boys?

_Nope_.

Well, maybe what her _mom_ thought was important, but everyone else? Not so much. The boys had been there for her for too long, saved her too many times, and were too big a part of her life for her to ever _care_ what her family really thought of them.

In fact, the reality was quite the opposite.

What Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai thought of her family, how it would change their opinion of her, if they'd see her differently after this… those were the things that she realized mattered.

Sakura suddenly wanted to punch Kakashi. She might have never thought of it that way if he hadn't made such a big deal about telling her about his past. She might not have even given it _this_ much thought. Sure she had always actively made it a point to keep the two very different aspects of her life on opposing sides of a wall, but if he hadn't put the thought there, this all might be, at worst, a nuisance.

Then again, she wasn't the only one who had built walls.

"Mom?"

"What's up, sweetie?"

"Why did you ask me to bring the boys?"

Akane looked to her again briefly. "I thought I was being polite, although you're acting a bit like I kicked your puppy. I've always told you to bring your teammates to these things."

Sakura shook her head. Now that she was on this particular path, it baited her curiosity, tantalizing her into pursuing. "No, you've hinted at it before and you've told me that I could bring some 'friends' if I wanted to, but you were specific this time. Why?"

"I'm not quite sure," her mother replied, but there was a playful lilt in her tone that told Sakura something was sure to follow. "I suppose I've come to realize how alienated I must make you feel. The fact that I don't understand your job doesn't mean that I shouldn't support you, especially since I hear your praises sung just about everywhere I go. I've been complimented many times on the sort of person my daughter turned out to be."

Mother and daughter shared a smile and a moment as a rift was acknowledged and a silent promise put in place to fill in that gap.

But the moment quickly disappeared as Akane added, "I must admit that I'm also curious about what you've been up to. I've always worried that you worked too hard and, when I stopped by the flower shop the other day, Yamanaka-san made it sound as if you your work was making more than a few house calls."

The meaningful lift of her mother's eyebrow and the leading tone of her voice made Sakura felt a stab of disappointment in herself. She was a ninja and this was her mother. She should have seen the trap coming.

* * *

1. So many wonderful reviews last chapter. Love, love, love you guys.

2. This chapter was a bit shorter than the others and even though I've spent all this time saying that I was going to make the chapters shorter, it doesn't feel right now. I guess I'm just hard to please.

3. I'm totally not going to mention this idea I've been having. I'm not going to say that it's a Kaka/Saku-centric idea heavily influenced by the anime Welcome to the NHK.

4. And while I'm not thinking about that, it's time for a rant! Of the PG-13 variety.

Okay, so I like to think of myself as a bit of a connoisseur when it comes to smut. I prefer foreplay and afteglow interactions to an actual description of the act which is just (spoiler alerts) insert Tab A into Slot B repeatedly and I prefer the idea of making love to kinky shit. I guess I'm just vanilla that way, but there's sex and then there's depravity. If that blows your hair back, fine. However, I take issue with this frightening trend in a lot of fanfiction and I feel the need to address it because I like to get on my soapbox every now and again. Scenario: just as things are getting a little heavy, Party A (usually female) tells party B (usually male) "No, stop". Party B proceeds to hush her like she's talking during a movie and continues. Party A, rather than kicking Party B in the joy department and dashing him to the floor, politely quiets down. Hm... how do I put my reaction to this eloquently? FUCK THAT. Oh, and while we're on the topic, if at any point Party B looks at Party A and says the words, "Are you sure? Because once this starts, I'm not stopping" the fic in question automatically loses about a hundred points. I've heard the "well, when she says 'no' she really means 'yes'" bullshit in the past and, just a hint, it was rape when Rhett dragged Scarlet to bed screaming and it's rape now. Is it this just me? If I'd tell my paramour "No, Stop" and he DIDN'T he could expect a swift knee to the nads. Blue balls would be the LEAST of his problems.

5. Ah, I always feel so much better when I get that out of my system. Oh and just a note for now and future: don't worry if your review ends up more like a rant. I find it kind of funny that I inspire you guys to rave like I do.

6. I went to the Renaissance Fair yesterday and a pirate stole my heart. Too bad I was only in love with his costume. He was kind of cute.

7. More songs! "You're All I Have" by Snow Patrol and "Stolen" by Dashboard Confessional are super sweet songs.

8. Oh, right... these are supposed to be chapter-related. Hm... okay, so the part where Sakura nearly gets pelted by water balloons. The best reason I have for her not hearing/seeing it coming and dodging on her own is best rooted in the fact that we tend to be way, WAY off-guard when we walk into our own homes. True, this isn't Sakura's house, but this is the house she grew up in. She'd have that sense of security there that might even outweigh the security she has at her own home because she could walk in and run face-first into an ANBU agent there.

9. Plus, it was just kind of fun to give Kakashi a 'rescue Sakura from the completely benign threat' moment.

10. Sakura's mom has brown hair. I base this off of an interesting screen capture someone took of a woman (although the gender was kind of ambiguous) with brown hair wearing the same circle that Sakura does on all of her clothes. Just Google Image "Sakura's Mom" and the screen capture should come up. I'm not responsible if porn pops up with it.

11. Sakura's family are merchants by trade. It was the best idea I had, so deal with it, yo.

12. Fluff... soon. I hate promising fluff "next chapter" because I'm not timelining any of this. It happens when it happens. So when I say "next chapter" there's a possibility of it actually being two or three chapters away, despite my intentions.

13. Last one. I don't mention a lot of specifics a good amount of the time, like food. That's because I always feel like I'm doing it wrong. I'm not even entirely comfortable with honorifics and I cringe every time I use one because I'm never sure if I'm right. To that end, I describe Sakura's house here and in response to any shrieks of "that doesn't sound Japanese", I reply "in your eye", because Japanese-inspired floor plans are hard to find and what few I could track down were highly modern, so just squint and use your imagination. Also, yes, they actually have a house. In the civilian quarter. Designating a civilian quarter made sense to me because, even though segregation no longer exists, there are still areas that are predominantly white and areas that are predominantly black (or Hispanic, or Asian, or what have you). It's not that you're racist or hate other cultures; people just tend to segregate themselves. Plus, if you were a civilian would you really want to live where shinobi might be constantly using your roof as a foot path? Probably not. Also, I'm pretty sure that in a Ninja Village, the shinobi:civilian ratio would be strongly in the shinobi's favor. Civilians could probably live in house-houses rather than apartments because there'd be more room for that in the Civvy district.

**(As always, I love you guys and I thank you for reading and for all of the congrats passed around last chapter. I'm very excited. Now, review!)**

**(Oh, and now that my brain isn't just a few clumps of dust rolling around inside an empty bowl due to sleep deprivation, I feel I need to smooth a bit of balm over any chafe marks number 4 might have caused: If your story uses any of the mentioned conventions, if you LIKE any of the mentioned conventions, then good for you. An opinion is only an opinion after all and mine is certainly no more valid than any of yours. It's simply that this horrible chaotic neutral part of my brain suddenly takes over when I come to the A/Ns and I find it, usually in a corner somewhere after having stolen my laptop away from me, its fingers burning up the keys with fervor and passion, muttering to itself about dissenting opinions that can just suck on it. I usually just let her get away with it because it makes her easier to live with.)  
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	15. In Which There is a Grand Rescue

**House Calls**

**Chapter 15  
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* * *

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To say the least, Sakura's family was _colorful_ and that _was_ partially because of seemingly dominant and mysterious pink hair gene, which made Kakashi realize just how little time he actually spent in the civilian district. Up until this party, Sakura had been the only person running around Konoha with such bizarre coloring to his knowledge. But she had at least seven cousins and various other relatives with similar shades and, like their hair, the Haruno clan was an odd bunch. Some of them loud and rowdy and others reserved and stoic, all of them built on a foundation old manners. They were quick to greet him and the boys, but eager to keep their distance. Polite but indifferent; friendly but cold.

Which was just fine by Kakashi. He was amusing himself by watching Sakura from the safety of a corner table with Sai, who was busy doodling in a small sketchpad he always carried in his satchel with the scroll, ink, and brush he used on the job. And this all honestly felt a bit like a mission. He and Sai might as well have been running surveillance as Sakura infiltrated an enemy base. Except, Sakura's poker face was never quite as convincing as it was among her family.

Twelve-year-old Sakura didn't just rear her head to be cranky and contrite, it seemed. She also functioned as a mask and that worried him a little.

After all, Kakashi had watched Sakura spend her formative years smiling when she was angry and laughing when she couldn't even manage a genuine smile. Over time she had gotten better, becoming the open, expressive [sic, temperamental] woman he knew couldn't play cards to save her life on most occasions, but it seemed that around her family she was back to square one.

"Sakura, have you tried that diet I mentioned?"

"Oh, stop picking on her, Li."

"I'm not picking on her, I was just asking!"

"Well, what are you doing giving her diets? She's a stick. She's just got child-bearing hips… speaking of which when are you going to give your aunt her first grand-nephew or niece?"

"Oh, mind your own, Fumiko!"

"What? I'm just saying that I'm not going to be young forever… neither is she for that matter. You know what they say about Christmas Cakes."

Kakashi watched a muscle twitch in Sakura's jaw even as the girl laughed and fanned a hand dismissively at her aunts, who had crowded around her in a way that would have made him claustrophobic. "Oh, you guys are embarrassing me. Come on."

"I think our cherry blossom is hiding something from us. Surrounded by all of those handsome men she knows? I bet she has a beau she's just not telling us about."

"Now who needs to mind their own, Airi?"

Sakura's cheeks were flushed pink and while Kakashi couldn't quite tell if it was out of anger or out of embarrassment, he thought that it was about time for an intervention. He leaned back in his chair until he could catch her eye and then waved.

It was like she had been waiting all day for him to do that.

Sakura's hand shot into the air in reply as a smile bloomed across her face and in an instant she had excused herself from her aunts and was at his side.

"Have I mentioned recently that I love you?" she asked as she came to stand between him and Sai.

Kakashi grinned at her. "I'd be careful saying that in front of those hens."

"Oh, good point," she replied, although she was smiling just as wide. "Now, did you actually need something?"

"Nope, I just miss the good old days when you kept my 'rescue skills' especially sharp."

"So you're just settling for the mundane things like rescuing me from water bombs and obnoxious relatives?"

"Yep."

Sakura laughed and laid a hand on his shoulder before she looked to Sai. "What about you? Are you having fun?"

The boy didn't respond and Sakura smiled and reached out to fondly tousle his hair. This seemed to startle him. He looked sharply to her as if surprised she was even there, but he recovered quickly enough to smile in reply. If nothing else, Kakashi had to admire his focus.

But even Sai noticed when the three pairs of large, brown eyes popped into view just over the opposite end of the table. Sakura smiled. "Hey," she greeted the three, little girls who looked to be around the same age and were staring openly at Kakashi and Sai. Mostly Sai, to Kakashi's relief. "Did you need something? Where are the others?"

One of the girls, one with dark brown hair that nearly skimmed her knees, turned her head and pointed. Just beyond the deck, on the spot of grass walled in by hedges, was Naruto, wrestling with the young boys of the Haruno clan, holding one in the air by his shirt collar and easily fending off the others. It really made sense that the blond was popular with the younger set as he possessed the ability to seamlessly revert back to the mentality of the annoying brat he had been in the past.

"I see," Sakura said slowly through a bright smile. "So, what do you three want?"

Another girl, one with red pig-tails, shot her hand up into the air. "Mimi wanted to see what kind of pictures he's drawing," she said, pointing at Sai.

"Who's Mimi?" Kakashi whispered, leaning toward Sakura.

"Her doll."

Kakashi eyed the grotesque, one-eyed, bald-in-places _thing_ coddled to the girl's chest. _Okay_, sure.

Sai looked bewildered and quickly turned toward Sakura for assistance. "It can't hurt anything," she replied with a reassuring smile. "Why don't you go into the dining room to show them?"

The ex-ROOT operative blinked at her once and then got to his feet. His confusion only seemed to worsen when one of the girls latched onto his hand and proceeded to lead him inside. He looked back to Sakura again for reassurance and Sakura, the angel of sadism that she was at times, simply smiled and waved in response.

Kakashi watched her with a mixture of amusement and pride (maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she took on a Genin team—it would at least be _amusing_) as she took the boy's seat beside him. "You trust them with him?"

"The girls are a lot sweeter than the boys," she replied. "It might be good for him anyway. The most experience he gets with kids is when he helps me babysit Asuka. I still say he can learn a lot from them."

He nodded and opened his mouth to reply but closed it quickly and glanced pointedly over her shoulder. Sakura turned in time to receive three of her relatives—an older woman and two men, one apparently the woman's husband. He could only assume that these were her grandparents and one of her uncles and if the two men's dusky, pink hair and the overwhelming number of boys in the family that shared it was any indication, then that particular trait was most common in men. From this, he could only assume that boys born into the Haruno clan were naturally thick-skinned. In contrast, the woman's hair was a washed out red and tied back in a tight knot.

"Uncle!"

The younger of the men laughed as Sakura jumped up from her seat to hug him and promptly lifted her off of her feet, squeezing warmly. He was handsome and tall, sturdily built and obviously not a stranger to hard labor. "There she is! Damn, I think you get prettier every time I come around."

Sakura smiled as the man dropped her easily back onto her feet. She looked to the older couple then and offered them a feeble smile, her demeanor changing so quickly that Kakashi was caught off guard. Until he noticed the grandmother eyeing him and then it made a good bit more sense. He lifted a hand in greeting. "Yo."

The older woman's eyes turned on Sakura and her eyebrows rose expectantly.

Sakura smiled sheepishly. "Um, this is my team leader, Hatake Kakashi. Kakashi-sensei, this is my grandfather and grandmother, Haruno Isao and Haruno Natsuko, and this is my uncle Haruno Jiro. Do you three want to sit with us?"

Jiro glanced at his parents. "Yeah, sure," he said, obviously hesitant even as he guided Sakura back into her seat, "Can't have you two sitting alone like this. Hatake-san, it's good to meet you. I always hear about my favorite niece's famous team and it's good to finally put a face to a name. Where are the other two?"

"Entertaining the cousins," Sakura replied. "Grandfather, Grandmother, how have you been?"

"Very well," Isao replied.

His wife simply nodded and Kakashi wondered if he was really _just_ imagining the draft of cold air wafting off the woman as her eyes continually moved from him to her granddaughter and then back in a disapproving, calculating manner. He met Sakura's eyes briefly and then glanced questioningly away, lifting his eyebrows, _"Should I go?"_

Her reply came in the form of a fleeting, pleading look and her hand settling over his knee under the table as she asked her uncle about business.

* * *

Oh, Jiro. Don't, Sakura pleaded silently. He had always been her favorite and she couldn't recall ever doing anything to scorn him. So, why he was winding up for _that_ question in front of her grandparents—

"Enough about what I do. Talking about it bores me silly; I can't imagine what it does to trained ninja. Any new adventures to share, Sakura?"

A mystery. She forced herself to smile. "Nothing too interesting. I was on an escort mission—" She could almost feel her grandmother's disapproval searing itself into her forehead—"not too long ago with a few other kunoichi, but even that was pretty routine."

"Yeah, for you," Jiro replied with a gentle, teasing nudge of his foot against her shin under the table. "Where did you go?"

"Just to Takigakure; the clients were from Wave and one of the girls was marrying into a ninja family there."

"Were you with her?"

Sakura glanced to Kakashi as her grandmother honed in on him. His expression remained placidly neutral even when faced with the woman's utterly frigid tone, which she was quite jealous of since she regularly cringed when addressed by her. "I wasn't," Kakashi replied. "The client requested an all-female detail so Sakura was chosen to lead the mission herself."

"I see," the woman replied and after a careful pause, she went on. "Hatake-san, do you think it's appropriate for a young woman like my granddaughter to be what she is? A ninja?"

"Grandmother," Sakura scolded.

Kakashi, however, remained unfazed. "With all due respect, there are no young women like your granddaughter, Natsuko-san and it's fortunate for Konoha that she is what she is." Then, with a friendly eye crinkle, he added, "But perhaps I'm biased. My teammates have no equals as far as I'm concerned."

For several moments, all Sakura could do was stare at her friend, her one-time teacher. She wanted so badly then to hug him. Not because of what he had said, because he had offered similar words in the past and because she knew that being on his team—the Copy-nin's team—said everything for her skills that needed to be said. But because this was her grandmother. Of all the reservations her family had about her job, her grandmother's were the loudest of all.

And like always, Kakashi was in the right place at the right time. Defending her.

"I suppose that makes sense," the older woman sniffed. "I've heard stories about you. You've been a ninja since you were a little boy. You were raised in that… environment. A man like you wouldn't understand."

Just like that, the calm that Kakashi's words had managed to invoke in Sakura was incinerated in a second by a burst of anger that filled her from head to foot. "And what kind of man is he?" Sakura asked quietly.

A staying hand—Kakashi's—fell on her arm. It was a familiar gesture, one he employed when they were on missions together, when he could tell that she was losing her patience or temper (often both).

But he wasn't the team leader on this little expedition, was he?

"I simply mean that he was raised to be a ninja. That's a different world and he wouldn't see things the way I do," Natsuko replied. "The fact of the matter is that it isn't proper for a young woman to do what you do, Sakura. It isn't your place. He wouldn't have been raised seeing that and if he was your teacher? Clearly he wasn't concerned about it."

Sakura clenched her fists in her lap and desperately tried to bite her tongue, but a part of her was _pissed_ off and so not convinced that that was all her grandmother had meant and it was itching for a fight.

"There are worse things to be accused of than being progressive," Sakura replied evenly. She patted herself on the back for that.

Her grandmother's eyes narrowed fractionally. "I speak in the interest of your future, Sakura. How long will it be before you're willing to settle down and what man will want you then? You'll never have a respectable life."

And oh Sakura wanted to scream. She wanted to yell and stomp her feet and throw a fit that would make Tsunade proud. She wanted to lunge across the table and do… _something._ She wanted to, but with one glance behind her, at the rest of her happily oblivious family, she realized that she just couldn't. She was above causing a spectacle. She wouldn't give her grandmother more fuel for her argument; another reason to point and say, "See how uncivilized she's become?"

So, without a word, she got to her feet and walked away from the table.

* * *

Kakashi placed a hand on Jiro's shoulder as the man moved as if to rise. "I'll get her," he said, pushing his chair back and standing.

Jiro glanced at him and then after Sakura. "You sure? She can be a handful when she's mad."

Kakashi laughed as he turned away to follow the medic's path. "I'm well aware of that. Besides, it's probably better that I don't stick around. I might end up saying something I shouldn't."

Natsuko may have huffed something in reply, but Kakashi was already too far away from the table and too far beyond caring to pay her any more attention. He admired the maturity Sakura showed in simply refusing to take the bait offered, even if a part of him had been hoping for it. Honestly, watching Sakura act so unlike herself was… well, uncomfortable to say the least. Seeing an explosion, some of that familiar energy from her would have at least restored the balance. He wasn't so sure he liked _this_ Sakura.

Kakashi hesitated in the living room for a brief moment before making his way to the kitchen, passing Sai along the way. He was at the dining room table and, as Sakura had suspected, getting along swimmingly with his audience of adoring fans who were watching in rapt fascination as he animated a drawing of a few butterflies. From the kitchen itself, he heard a soft humming and cautiously leaned in to see Sakura's mother busily putting together another tray of appetizers.

"Hatake-san," she greeted without turning around. "Sakura isn't in here. She went stomping upstairs not too long ago, probably to her old room."

"Ah. I—"

"Give her a few minutes to calm down," the woman interjected, still not facing him. "Then you can go talk to her. In the mean time you can tell me what happened. My best guess is that her grandmother's made her appearance."

She motioned to a stool at the end of the line of counters and Kakashi found himself inclined to take that as an order and not a suggestion. "Your powers of clairvoyance are astounding," he replied.

Akane laughed, finally sparing him a look over her shoulder. "Oh, I can't say that years of experience didn't help me out with that one. Sakura and her grandmother have never seen eye-to-eye."

"I can tell. It's always been like that?"

"Ever since I can remember." Akane removed a heavy, wooden cutting board from an overhead cupboard and slid it onto the countertop before drawing an impressive kitchen knife from a block on her left. "Sakura was always too shy and then too outspoken when she was little girl. Never good enough. Then again, no one ever has been for Natsuko. Speaking as the woman's daughter-in-law I have a bit of personal experience with that."

Kakashi smiled faintly even as he kept his eyes on her hands. Her deftness with that knife was a bit disconcerting as she began to peel an amanatsu with smooth, precise cuts. She didn't even seem to be paying attention to what she was doing.

"What were they arguing about?"

"Natsuko-san doesn't approve of Sakura's profession, apparently."

"Ah, the oldest argument of all," Akane murmured. "No wonder Sakura was in such a huff. They've fought over that since… well, since Sakura started at the Academy, I think."

"Wasn't her father a ninja?"

The woman looked over to him, her brows knitted together. "Did Sakura tell you that? Wow."

"Why? Wasn't he?"

"Oh, he was," she replied. "I was just surprised because I can't remember a time when she's ever told anyone that willingly."

Kakashi frowned, shifting in his seat uneasily. For some reason, talking to the woman felt a bit like he was prying into Sakura's private life behind her back. But then again he was a ninja. "Why is that?"

Akane looked thoughtfully upwards as she finished wedging the citrus and moved onto another. "I'm not really sure. Pride, I suppose. The best I can figure is that she doesn't want anyone to think that she's trying to follow in his footsteps." She laughed and shook her head. "Natsuko-san's problem isn't with ninja, anyway. It's with the idea of her granddaughter being a ninja. She's very traditional like that."

"What's your take on it?"

She blinked at him and Kakashi innocently stared back. A tiny smile touched the corner of her mouth. "Are you interrogating me, Hatake-san?"

"I'm simply asking questions out of curiosity."

"Of course you are." She looked upward and then sighed. "I was raised to think the same way that Natsuko was: a woman grows up, marries, and raises children. I wasn't… _happy_ when Sakura decided to go to the Academy. I never wanted to take the option away from her because it's _her_ life, but I did hope it was a phase. Mothers always want the life _they_ had for their children, you understand, especially their daughters and… well, I won't say that I wasn't afraid for her."

Kakashi had his eyes fixed on the floor tile a few feet in front of him and his shoulders hunched forward so that his elbows could rest on his knees. "You're her mother," he said with a shrug.

Akane smiled. "She was so excited to graduate. She wasn't entirely happy with the _team_ she ended up on—" she spared him a smirking, sideways look and then turned back to the cutting board—"but that changed over time. She said nothing worse about Naruto-san than she did her cousins—and believe me, that is saying something—and she always spoke highly of you."

Oh, dare he? He wasn't even quite sure where the compulsion was coming from, but… "What about Sasuke?"

The woman shook her head. "She talked about him quite a bit, but not as much as you might think given the crush she had on him. You know how girls are at that age; they don't tell their mothers anything." She paused briefly and then sighed. "Then again, it was the same for everything else and I never did anything about it. A part of me never wanted to know. In fact, it was years before I knew a lot of details… what happened to her hair in the forest, why she went to Hokage-sama for training, what really happened with the Uchiha boy… it was quite a shock to realize that she had been through so much without me." She glanced over at him. "It was a comfort to know that she had a good team looking out for her, though."

"I would have never let anything bad happen to her," Kakashi replied, because he had no idea what else to say and because it was true.

Akane smiled. "I know," she said. "That's what she always told me when I'd worry: Kakashi-sensei won't let anything bad happen. I always wanted to thank you for that. I don't know what I would have done if something _would_ have happened to her."

Kakashi opened his mouth to reply, but that was as far as he got before the woman wound up and drove the knife into the cutting board with enough force to embed the blade into the wood.

She smiled sweetly at him as she scooped the fruit into a bowl. "Why don't you go up and talk to her now?" she suggested with a nod toward the door. "I think she's had enough time to calm down."

There was no need to tell him twice.

* * *

Sakura looked up when she heard the floorboard in the hallway just outside of her bedroom squeak and wasn't entirely surprised to see Kakashi when he appeared in the doorway. She was seated on her bed, with her back to the wall and her knees drawn up to her chest. Her shoes were forgotten on the floor and she was hugging a pillow with all of her might.

"Yo," he greeted.

She smiled at him, vaguely noting that it was the first time she had felt like smiling all day. "Hey."

Kakashi offered her an eye crinkle and then stepped inside, his hands in his pockets. She watched him as he surveyed the room and was suddenly grateful that she had never painted it pink and decorated it with flowers like she had wanted to when she was eleven.

"I'm sorry about them."

He glanced at her and then turned back to inspect a shelf of porcelain figurines hanging over a wooden desk covered in stacks of old books. "There's nothing to apologize to me for. _I'm_ sorry you have to deal with that."

Sakura shook her head and raked her fingers back through her hair, dragging the ribbon out of her pink locks. "You'd be amazed by what you get used to," she sighed. "I, for one, have just accepted it."

"Not what I'd call fair," he replied offhandedly. He looked to her again and then grabbed the chair from her desk and slid it over to the bed. He turned it around so that he could straddle it and fold his arms over the back. "I can see why you didn't want to come to this thing."

"I don't want you to think I don't love them because I do," she protested. "They're my family… I just…"

Kakashi huffed and waved a dismissive hand. "Sakura-chan, I was sitting at that table. I know."

Sakura nodded and began to undo the knot the ribbon was tied in; trying to ignore the expectant way he was watching her. Finally, unable to resist, she lifted her eyes to his, which crinkled in another smile for just a second and then he went back to watching, expecting. She _knew_ what he was waiting for, though only the Hokages knew _why_ he was waiting for it. One would think that he had heard her rant enough in his lifetime.

But if he was willing to listen, she was willing to talk. "When I was younger, I liked that my family was civilian," she began. "I only ever had to walk across the village to be someone else. I wasn't a Genin when I'd get here and I wasn't the girl on Team Seven. I was just Haruno Sakura. Then I got a little older and I didn't want to be _just_ Haruno Sakura anymore." She glanced up at him again and offered a smile, squeezing the pillow closer to her chest. "I never thought I'd make Jonin. I never thought I'd ever mean anything to this village. But I'm the Godaime's apprentice and I am a _damn_ good medic and a damn good kunoichi and _that_ is who Haruno Sakura is now." She paused to take a breath, chewing her lips and letting her gaze wander to one side. "Until I come here, anyway. Here, Jonin is just a word and being nineteen means that I still have time to grow out of this whole 'ninja thing'. Here, I'm… _still_ just Haruno Sakura."

Kakashi was focused on a point on the bedspread just in front of her feet as she spoke and then, after a long moment of silence, he lifted his eye to hers. There was something strange about the look in his eye, but it disappeared as he finally spoke. "Do you want to get out of here?"

Sakura smiled again, this time even wider. "Do you think you can escape my mother?"

He chuckled as he rose from his seat, but she thought she heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like, "I damn well hope so." But she decided not to ask when he offered up his hand. She accepted and let him pull her off the bed.

Kakashi (needlessly) held her hand to help her balance as she slipped back into her shoes and then, once she was done, he bowed forward and swept her over his shoulders, still clutching her hand as his other arm hooked one of her knees. "What are you doing?" she squawked indignantly, pushing against his shoulder and trying to ignore the fact that her skirt was suddenly riding uncomfortably high.

He turned his head towards her and crinkled his eye. "Rescuing you."

Oh for the love of the First. Sakura was caught between the desire to dope-slap him and laugh. She settled for glancing back at the doorway and a resignedly sighing through the almost irrepressible urge to smile. "Well, hurry up before someone comes."

* * *

1. I feel like I keep trying to recreate the fluffy feeling of the festival chapter (which is still my favorite of all), but I feel like I miss the mark every time. In other news I love you guys and you're the best.

2. I'm also sorry about the week of radio silence. I've been busy with a lot of school stuff.

3. But despite my complaints above (all of these seem to be quite out of order, which is just how I like it), I like what I was trying to accomplish in this chapter (though I'm sure if I actually did manage it). I liked the idea of Sakura being highly respected and extremely successful in the shinobi world, but the black sheep among her own family. I know it's a bit overdone to pull the "traditional family, women shouldn't be ninja" card, but I tend to cuddle up to cliches that just make sense.

4. Amanatsu (insert brief pause while I compulsively Google the word to make sure I've spelled it right) is a Japanese citrus fruit about the size of a grapefruit. I don't know what Akane's peeling it for either. Also, Christmas Cake refers to the expression that "no one wants Christmas Cake after the 25th and no man wants a woman after she's 25".

5. But, speaking of Akane: Sakura had to get "the scary" from somewhere (and given how MY evil eye looks just like my mom's evil eye, I figure scary has to be at least a little genetic and not all learned, although I'm sure Tsunade helped mold Sakura's scary a lot).

6. I miss playing with other characters. Next chapter we'll go back to that. Any suggestions for who we want to see? (Within reason, I'm not going to magic Gaara onto the scene).

7. I think what I was trying to describe in the last bit was the fireman's carry and it seemed appropriate that Kakashi would ignore the fact that Sakura was in a dress. Oh the cheeky brat.

8. I might be posting a 2-shot soon. Kaka/Saku, based in modern day, HEAVILY cracky. I hope you all will give it a peek and review because I love you all a big huggy bunch and when I don't get reviews I can be a very cruel, chapter-hording mistress.

9. Cue whip sound effect.

10. ... ... ... ... (Sorry, lost my train of thought) This being Chapter 15 of a rather plotless and incredibly slow-moving story, I really do want to send out a big thanks to everyone who's reviewed and who has added this to their favorites, their alerts, and even a few C2s. More often than not I feel like a complete failure as a writer and the little pats on the head I get from this really do help me along.

11. Hm, I'm missing my chapter rant. Let's see... what to bitch about for the rollicking amusement of all? ... Ah, I got it! You know how people complain about other people who squeeze the toothpaste tube from the middle and not the end? Well they can suck my toes. _I_ happen to squeeze the toothpaste from the middle and you know what happens when I do that? Absolutely bloody nothing! The tides don't reverse, the earth doesn't spin out of orbit, Robert Pattinson doesn't suddenly become as attractive as everyone seems to think he is! The paste comes out the same way! I also hate it when you buy a fresh tube of mascara only for it to start clumping a week later.

**(As always, please review and, like I said, keep an eye out for a new fic to be posted soon.)**


	16. In Which We Open Mouths and Insert Feet

**House Calls**

**Chapter 16  
**

**

* * *

**

"You know what I just realized?"

"What's that?"

"We just left Naruto and Sai at the mercy of my family."

Kakashi smiled at the less than guilty look on Sakura's face. Actually, she didn't seem to be even paying very much attention to her own realization as she examined the fresh fruit on display at the produce stand. "What do you suggest we do?"

They had opted not to flee the civilian district immediately—just the general area that her family currently occupied. There wasn't much to see, she insisted, but the market was nice and she got a discount there because most of the sellers knew her family. Most everyone in general seemed to know her, although the hair had to be a dead giveaway.

"Well," she began, pursing her lips thoughtfully as she looked upwards, weighing a mikan in her hand. "They are grown men now. And they're ninja. They can probably take care of themselves, you think?"

He nodded. "I do."

Sakura smiled and nodded, slipping the citrus and three others like it into an already full bag followed by a few plums. "So, do I owe my mighty rescuer anything?"

"I think so."

The words were no sooner out of his mouth than he had her elbow in his hand, blocking the blow aimed for his gut. Green eyes narrowed at him as she looked over her shoulder. "What now?"

He smiled at her again. "You offered. I was thinking dinner sounded good."

"How many times this week does that make?" she demanded.

"The others don't count," Kakashi replied, holding up a finger in objection.

Sakura snorted derisively and planted one hand on her hip. "How exactly do you figure?"

He rolled his eyes. "You _weren't_ trying to suck up to make sure I came with you?"

"All right, that wasn't sucking up." She glanced at his still-raised finger and reached up to fold it forcefully back into her palm. "I was bribing you and 'was' is the operative term here because I revoke the bribing part. We ended up skipping out on the party anyway. So I've made dinner for you, what? Four times this week? And you're shooting for a fifth? Not happening."

He pouted as she turned away, waving her hand in a 'shooing' motion over her shoulder. "You should think of it as training. You and Naruto still aren't fast enough to catch me with my mask down. C'mon, Sakura-chan."

"It isn't attractive when a man your age whines."

"Hey, you should take it as a compliment that I like your cooking so much."

Sakura spared him another wry look over her shoulder as she handed her bag of produce to the young man at the register, who was gawking openly at her. "Or I can take it that you're a moocher," she replied. She turned back to the clerk. "Good afternoon, Takeo-san."

"Good afternoon, Sakura-san," the boy replied with a broad smile. "Did you find everything you needed?"

The girl smiled back. "I think so. What's the damage today?"

"Oh, no damage," he said happily. "I'll cover your bill."

The muscles in Sakura's shoulders immediately bunched. "Ah, that's really not necessary, Takeo-san," she began sheepishly. "I'm happy to pay. It can't be that much and I just got—"

"Nonsense!" Takeo handed her the sack, still smiling widely. "And if you really insist, maybe you and I can discuss it over—"

"Takeo-san, I really have to insist that you let me pay," Sakura cut in. "I—"

Kakashi slid a hand onto her shoulder and she stopped abruptly, looking up at him with a small frown. "I can settle this," he offered, "I think it's my turn to pay anyway."

Sakura glanced at the hand on her shoulder and then she latched herself onto him, her arms wrapping snugly around his middle. "Oh, thank you!" she gushed. "You can be so sweet sometimes."

Well, that was certainly a surprise—the "sweet" part more-so than the hug itself, because her arms had no sooner locked around him than he felt her hand dip in and then out of right his pocket, leaving something behind. From the same pocket, he withdrew a ten Ryo note a moment later and handed it to Takeo. "Maybe next time," he consoled.

Takeo blinked, his smile growing weak and nervous. "Yeah, maybe," he mumbled.

Kakashi saw Sakura smother a grin against his arm. Takeo's mind was doing all of the work for them by leaping to conclusions and even though the embrace was perfectly innocent, she had just latched herself onto a man nearly a head taller than him who was, in all likelihood, armed. And it didn't hurt than the man in question the fucking Copy-nin.

Change was made quickly and handed over as the boy spared a few fleeting glances in Sakura's direction as she picked at balls of lint on Kakashi's sleeve. "Here," Takeo said, offering out the bag.

"Thanks," Sakura chimed. She lifted the bag easily and propped it on her hip. "It was nice talking to you, Takeo-san."

Kakashi waved good-bye as she hooked her free hand in his elbow and dragged him off down the street. Once they were out of ear-shot he looked to her. "So… a friend of yours?" he asked, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder.

"I've known him for a long time, but he isn't really a friend," Sakura replied with a roll of her eyes. "Thanks for the save back there. You've been doing that a lot today."

"Dinner?" he suggested again hopefully.

She laughed. "Fine. I'll make something unless plans change; a few teams were due back tonight so…"

"Got it," he replied. He glanced over his shoulder again. "So, why not let him buy your fruit for you? You don't have a problem when any other man in this village wants to do you a favor."

"The men who do me favors have usually bled on my laundry room floor at some point in the past—we have a connection," the medic explained, placing a hand over her heart. "Besides, my family doesn't know them. If I started getting friendly with Takeo beyond the hello and good-bye phase of conversation, they would never let it rest because he comes from a good, merchant family that they know and he's a nice, young man and he bought that store for himself and blah, blah, blah."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "So, you intend to be alone for the rest of your life?" he asked conversationally. "Just to spite them?"

Sakura laughed. "That might be _the_ best revenge," she replied thoughtfully. She smiled at him and shook her head. "Even if I don't get married, you and I both know that I'll never be _alone_-alone. The Konoha Eleven are basically joined at the hip since the war, Naruto would never allow it, Ino's threatened to make me the godmother of her children, and Sai is… well, he's Sai. He'll always be there. But even assuming that we all grow apart to some degree and I only ever get to see everyone when I'm putting them back together... well, I'll probably still have you, won't I? If only because you like my cooking."

He blinked at her. Hearing it said caught him off-guard for all of a second, though he couldn't be sure why because he spent most of his time off of missions with her, because she had embedded herself in his life, because he missed her when she was gone…

"Yeah. You will."

Because she was right.

She shrugged. "Then I think I'll be fine."

* * *

The rush of air beside Sakura's ear was the only cue that Kakashi had even left and for a few seconds, she could only stand there, trying to figure out just where he had gone and why he felt the need to leave so quickly. Then the answer appeared. Wearing green spandex and a Jonin vest. Walking on his hands down the middle of the street.

She rolled her eyes—at Kakashi, of course. Strange behavior was just expected of Gai. Then again, fleeing in order to preempt a "challenge" was to be expected of Kakashi, she supposed.

"Hello, Gai-senpai."

"Ah, Sakura-san! Good afternoon!"

It said something for Sakura's life that this was totally _not_ weird. Indeed, in the future her cousins might forever laud their "respectable" lives and spouses over her head, but not one of them could ever say that they had held a perfectly everyday conversation with Konoha's Green Beast while he walked on his hands around the village.

Ha. That'd show 'em.

"What lap are you on?" Sakura asked as she fell in beside the man.

"I am just about to complete my one-hundred and eighty-fourth!"

Sakura let out an incredulous laugh and pressed one hand to her forehead. "Well, then this is only your warm-up, huh?"

"Indeed! Would you like to join me?"

"Well, I'll walk with you until we reach my block. I hope you don't mind if I stay on my feet, though. I'm not really dressed for hand-stand laps today."

Gai laughed heartily at this. "Of course. Perhaps some other time?"

"Perhaps." Although, not bloody likely. He probably knew that, but it was nice of him to try. While everyone was more than welcome to accept one of his challenges (his favorite target just happened to be Kakashi, but he would take _anyone_ up on _anything_) not everyone was invited to train with him. She cringed, remembering the one time that Naruto had. He had spent the night on her couch, lying on the largest ice packs she could find and periodically whimpering. "So, where's Lee? I hardly ever see one of you without the other."

"My beloved student is not too far behind me, testing a brand new set of weights!" he replied with unrestrained glee.

"Oh," Sakura murmured with a worried look over her shoulder. "Gai-senpai, I really wish you and Lee would be… well, less _intense _when it comes to training. If you would cut back just a little bit…"

"You are too kind, Sakura-san. Your concern for your comrades makes you both an admirable medic and a great friend. Here." With a not surprising amount of grace he righted himself, straightening his flak jacket and sparing her a wide smile and two thumbs up. "I will take a short break if it will ease your mind."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And then do another two hundred hand-laps," she replied as he lifted the grocery bag out of her arms. "But thank you. You know, I'd feel better if you and Lee were more of a regular occurrence at the hospital or even my house. The human body really is only meant to do just so much."

"So, where have you been today? Not the hospital I assume," Gai said, switching topics with all of the grace of a peg-legged duck.

She smiled at him and shook her head. "_Smooth_. Anyway, I had a family thing to go to and it ended sort of early."

"Ah," he murmured with a calculating glance spared in her direction. "I hope everything is all right?"

"Everything's fine. Back to the whole hospital thing, though—"

"My esteemed student!"

Sakura pursed her lips in annoyance and crossed her arms as Gai stopped short and threw a hand into the air in greeting to Lee, who was still a good distance behind them and just now coming into view. It really wasn't her place, she supposed. This was kind of Tenten's job, but she knew that the weapon's mistress didn't like to nag and with new weights in the picture she felt it behooved her to say _something_. Besides, getting anything past that shiny, shiny bowl cut was obviously going to require two people at least.

"Gai-sensei, you're not quitting are you?" Lee asked, apparently aghast at the very idea.

"My fault," Sakura chimed in before Gai could even start. No sense in letting him explain, it would get needlessly long-winded very quickly. "I was badgering him about the two of you working too hard so he decided to take a break. Hi, Lee-kun."

Lee, looking surprised, as if he hadn't noticed her, immediately righted himself and saluted her. "Sakura-san!" he greeted. "Your compassionate nature is as admirable as it's always been and I'm very grateful for your—"

"The minute I walk away you're going to go back to laps, aren't you?"

He deflated a little and looked away. "Maybe."

Sakura shook her head. "So, where are Neji and Tenten? Doing laps as well?"

"They declined our offer to join us," Lee replied, looking vaguely, but briefly disheartened before he brightened. "They are, however, hard at work on the training grounds and when we return they will, undoubtedly, be more than prepared for us! Today is the day I will beat Neji!"

All at once, she was struck by the familiar desire to go home and make sure that she had the supplies on hand to treat the aftermath. "Well, when you do you should come by my place to tell me all about it. And bring Neji with you."

"Absolutely, Sakura-san!"

* * *

It wasn't like Kakashi hadn't noticed Sakura getting older. In fact, that was almost downright impossible to miss, if only because _everyone_ at some point or another had felt the need to point it out, usually piggybacked by a compliment about how pretty or powerful she had gotten. For the most part, he ignored them. They weren't wrong, but he hadn't had a whole hell of a lot to do with _either_ of those things.

However, it had never struck him quite as forcefully as it had when he found himself standing in the doorway of her old room. The walls were white, the drapes were soft yellow, and everything—from the desk to the dresser to the bed frame—was marred with pretty, little touches that made it all very clear that this had indeed been the bedroom of a young girl. Sakura, perched on her equally yellow and feminine bedspread, simply looked out of place.

Kakashi tried to shake himself free of this bizarre reverie as he stepped through the backdoor of the medic's house into the familiar breezeway (the floor of which was once again getting buried under cakes of mud). Sakura was a grown woman—still young, certainly, but grown. And she was pretty. He wasn't _blind_ to that just because he had once been her teacher.

And none of that meant anything.

It was what she had said that nagged him and only in tandem with all of the previous things did it genuinely _bother_ him.

She had seemed… contented by the idea of still having him even if all of her other friends became too busy with their own lives in the future. In fact, she was contented by the idea of _only_ having him.

It… well, it was emasculating to call the uncomfortable and disconcerting feeling in his gut "butterflies", but that was probably what it was and for the love of the First was he thirteen-years-old?

Or insane?

Because this was Sakura.

"Coward."

He frowned at the girl. She hadn't even looked up from the pot she was hovering over at the stove, wooden spoon at the ready. "I'm sorry?"

"Nothing," she replied innocently and still without looking up. "I guess we just know who's afraid of the Green Beast."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "That wasn't cowardice; that was survival instinct."

"Uh-huh. What if I hadn't wanted to talk to Gai? Where was my mighty savior then?"

He shrugged as he slumped into a chair at the kitchen table. "He decided to take a break. After all, you'll have to learn to fight your own battles someday. Besides, you always like talking to Gai… for some reason."

Sakura spared him an exasperated look over her shoulder. "Might be able to fight my battles if I hadn't had a lazy ass of a teacher for my first year," she muttered.

Kakashi lifted his feet onto the table and reached into his hip pouch for his copy of Paradise. It was a relief that she could tease about that now. So much of a relief that he felt like throwing a little back at her. "You might be able to fight your battles if you hadn't been such a _girl_ for your first year."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei?"

He glanced up at her and smirked when she stuck her tongue out at him. "I suppose your diplomatic skills and maturity make up for it, though," he noted.

She rolled her eyes at him again and then filled a bowl with the contents of the pot. A spoon was plucked from a rack of them on the countertop and then it and the bowl were sat down in front of him. "Miso soup with eggplant and mushroom and I have some norimaki in the fridge."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her when, instead of going to the fridge, she hopped up onto the kitchen table and crossed her arms. "Yes?"

She shrugged and motioned toward the soup. "Go ahead. Eat."

Ah, so that's what this was. "Sakura-chan," he admonished gently, "You're being kind of rude. Sitting on the table?"

"Not as rude as you're being with the mask. I've been thinking about it a lot today and it's been seven years, Kakashi." She smiled, looking rather pleased with herself as she leaned back on her hands, her palms pressed flat to the tabletop. "I can so wait."

Kakashi shrugged and leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "So can I."

"Your soup will get cold."

"I like cold soup."

Sakura pressed her lips into a firm line to hide her smile and then tossed her head back, flipping her long hair over her shoulder. When she looked to him again, she fixed him with a completely neutral expression. He was half-tempted to applaud.

It was childish—of both of them, really. Kakashi refused to take the entire weight of responsibility here, because Sakura was being just as immature. One would think that she'd just give up on this crusade at some point. After all, this wasn't the first time he had eaten at her house… although he usually made sure that Naruto and Sai were on hand to keep her distracted.

Over the years, eating with the team had become something of a game. They ate, sparing him quiet, calculating looks in between bites and bits of conversation, waiting for the moment that he'd make an attempt on his own food. Over time, Sakura had become the only real threat. Sai didn't care and Naruto, grown or not, had the attention span of a gnat and was easily distracted. Sakura, on the other hand, was hard to shake. He blamed Tsunade's training and the fact that the girl's _job_ was to maintain focus and heal people even while in the middle of a battlefield and under attack.

Admittedly, however, the challenge made things interesting and the game itself was a bit of a running gag between them.

"I've always tended to support the theory that you have fish lips," she said conversationally, regarding him with her head tipped and her eyes honed in on his.

He tipped his head. "Oh?"

"Mm, it's always seemed the most likely. If you had bucked teeth, there's no way you'd be able to eat as quickly as you do and if you were just horribly scarred or something it'd be in your medical files." She spoke casually, but her mouth was twisted into a slight frown as she considered him. After a moment, she finally spoke again, "I don't know if I've ever asked you why you wear that thing."

"You haven't."

She raised an expectant eyebrow at him and he simply copied the look. He grinned when her foot thumped against his knee in retaliation, but it faded quickly as recognized the thoughtful way she was chewing her lip as she eyed him. "Ryo for your thoughts?" he offered.

The girl bit her lip a moment longer and then took a breath. "Do you wear it because you look like your dad?"

The look on her face and the tone of her voice said everything that _needed_ to be said; recounting all of the painful details and reasons without speaking a word of them.

He slumped a little further into his seat. Why had he been hoping that she didn't know anything about that? He sighed. It would take a bit of time to get used to the idea of her _knowing_ him so well. Telling her about Obito and Rin had been his choice, yeah, but he justified it now by saying that she knew what had happened to Minato; she may as well know the rest of his old team's story. But he had never intended to talk about his father with her.

He hadn't intended to… but like during the festival, he found himself tempted, something he had _never_ felt when it came to his father's story. In fact, he had never talked about it with anyone before. But Sakura was… different, somehow. She had been for a while now.

"Oh!" She sounded horrified and he looked to her as she slapped both hands over her face and began to furiously shake her head. "Oh, Kakashi I'm so, _so_ sorry! I complain about Naruto being insensitive, but I'm _always_ stepping in it with you! Seriously, go me!"

Kakashi smiled wryly and, for a second, considered eating his soup now that she was sufficiently distracted with guilt, but on reflection that _was_ probably the fast track to a black eye. Instead, he reached forward and placed a hand over her knee, squeezing. "Sakura, it's okay."

"No, it's kind of not," she replied with her voice muffled by her hands. "Why did I say that? I've always wondered, but it's not like I needed to actually _ask_! I _so_ suck!"

"Fine, you suck," he agreed congenially, "But I forgive you for it, so we're all right. Sakura, look at me." He laughed quietly when she shook her head stubbornly. He nudged her gently. "C'mon, what if I had my mask down right now?"

She peeked out from between her fingers and then smiled feebly and pushed her hands back through her hair. "I'm sorry," she said again. "Really."

Kakashi nodded. "I know. You might have mentioned that."

She shook her head. "I just… sometimes a thought occurs to me and my mouth just runs away with it—" He couldn't help but smile at the frantic hand gestures, at the fact that she _always_ started talking with her hands when she was flustered—"And I don't consider what it sounds like before it comes out or what I'm dredging up when I ask it—I assume because I'm a horrible person. It must be rooted in that same part of me that was a jerk to Naruto when we were younger." She finally took a breath and laid a hand over his that still lingered on her knee. Huh. He had totally forgotten about that. "Oh, I _so_ _hate_ me right now. I might as well and ask Naruto how it felt to be raised as an unloved, unwanted orphan to earn all of my jerk points for today."

He nodded slowly and raised an eyebrow when she finally dragged her eyes up to his again. "Are you done beating yourself up now?" he wondered.

"I don't know," she replied, laughing weakly. "I might deserve a few more kicks while I'm down. Anything to add?"

Kakashi shrugged and then glanced over at the bowl of soup on the table beside her. "It doesn't look like you used enough spices in the soup."

To his relief, Sakura began to laugh and even though she looked a little unwilling at first she eventually broke down into a fit of genuine mirth; covering her mouth with one to stifle herself as her other hand clutched his. He squeezed back reflexively, it occurring to him that it had been _ages_ since he had held _anyone's_ hand. Well, ages since he had held anyone's hand outside of the context of dragging them back up from a pit-trap or the edge of a cliff.

To his _horror_, those emasculating butterflies were back and with them a sense of dread. They had been spending a lot of time together, they were close, and he knew that things had indeed been changing, but where exactly all of this was going made him anxious. Sakura was his teammate, his friend…

"Sakura-chan!"

It wasn't often that the machinations of Fate worked out for Kakashi, but they didn't really need to with Naruto around to derail his train of thought in its place.

"Naruto-kun!"

The Copy-nin smiled at the way the girl launched herself across the kitchen to latch onto the Kyuubi vessel, hugging him warmly. "I made dinner!" she chirped before the blond could say anything. "There's soup and sushi! It's all really good; recipes my mom taught me!"

"Yeah and she is a good cook," the blond replied. "I'd know. She made us stay for dinner. Without you. A _little_ awkward." He pinched his fingers together for emphasis.

Sakura snorted and pulled back from him, the ruse dropped at once. "You got dinner, didn't you?"

Naruto grinned. "Not the point. You bailed on us, right Sai?"

Sai, who was hovering over the stove and checking the contents of the pot, shrugged. "It was an educational experience; I'm glad to have gone."

"I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Sai," Sakura replied, but she was frowning at Naruto and leaning slightly away from the blond, her hands now on her hips. "Okay… you're smiling. Why are you smiling?"

"I'm happy," he said, although it almost sounded malicious.

"We just got back from a meeting with Tsunade-sama," Sai put in as he dished up some soup for himself.

"Why would that make you happy?" Sakura asked with the same trepidation in her voice that Kakashi was beginning to feel in his gut.

Naruto pulled the medic close with one arm and then looked from her to Kakashi and back. "Guess who's going to Suna and who's coming with me?"

* * *

1. Oh my God, romantic progress! ... Yes, that's what I'm calling it. Yes, that microscopic little bit of feelings on the horizon. ... Shut up.

2. Oh, by the way I luvs you guys. I'd bake you all cookies if we were neighbors.

3. As it is, I'll just keep writing chapters.

4. So, you guys might have noticed that updates have indeed slowed down. In other words: classes have finally caught up to me. I'm going to try to make a weekly update, but I won't make any promises. Just know that I do intend to keep updating and I'll notify you guys if things change.

5. In other news, my short project is up. It's on this profile under the title "Blithe Spirits". Go. Read. Now. After you leave a review for this chapter of course. And then leave a review for that one when you're done. It's cracktastic.

6. Yay for the Sand Sibs! They're scheduled to make an appearance... soon. I'm still in negotiations with their agent.

7. Gee, Sakura. That's a really good way to catch foot and mouth disease. (Buh-dum-tish! I'm sorry to anyone whose sides I may have split with that.) Someone noted before that Sakura and Naruto asking Kakashi to go to the festival on his "Dark Day" was insensitive. I defended them by saying that Sakura and Naruto couldn't have possibly known what his "Dark Day" was and therefore were insensitive jerks on complete accident and don't we all end up being THAT guy every once in a while? Here I just went for the "Sakura jams her own foot directly down her throat" approach, because hell if we haven't all done that too.

Oh, you know you have. You know a person and you've always wanted to ask them something that's offensive or just uncomfortable or whatever and then, one day, because you're behind on your monthly quota of jackass moments, you ask them. Maybe you were talking about something similar and it just slipped out or you asked them thinking it was the right time or you just couldn't suppress you curiosity anymore, but you asked them and you realize that you're a dick for doing so. Not to mention, I think Sakura's curiosity could be rather callus. I make a few references about Sakura appreciating Kabuto's work and discoveries from a purely clinical standpoint. In other words: the pragmatism of her inner-Medic would sometimes come out at inappropriate moments.

8. As for Kakashi, I think I mentioned before that this is Kakashi seven years down the road. This is Kakashi with fewer hang-ups and less angst, who's come to terms, to some degree, with his past and who has had a convenient brush with death and conversation with his father around the ethereal camp-fire to give him a bit of perspective on everything. Besides, he's had plenty of awkward moments himself (the end of the third Naruto movie for example) and he'd know Sakura well enough to know she never means to offend.

9. That and he's obviously falling for her.

10. Oh lawd, I love Gai and Lee. Someone requested a bit of Gai so WISH GRANTED! I also had requests for Choji and Shikamaru and they, too, will make appearances. I just went with Gai because he cartwheeled into the forefront of my mind, howling about youth and beauty, and I am a total sucker for a bowl cut... and large, muscular men capable of expressing the full spectrum of emotions. Apparently I'm in a Gai-mood. ... I also happen to be a sucker for their mini-me versions as well. Apparently it's more of a Green Jumpsuit Mood. ... And, yes, I would totally steal their jumpsuits while they were busy bathing. ... Actually, I'd probably do a lot more than that.

11. ANYHOODLE! Have I mentioned that I've posted a new story and it's called Blithe Spirits and it's on THIS very profile? You know, the profile that has a link to it on this page? ... Story, Blithe Spirits, by Spoiled Sweet. GO. READ.

13. Not that I judge my worth as a human being by the number of reviews I get or anything.

14. Did I skip number 12? Damn it.

12. ... Review?

**(So, in a bit of total seriousness: I challenge you to write crack! ... I have no idea why. This challenge is totally arbitrary and you're completely welcome to ignore it. It's just that the wayward spirit of Gai has apparently possessed me ... and I wish he'd posses me in other ways-COUGH. Sorry about that, something in my throat. Anyway, back to total seriousness: I challenge everyone to write crack mostly because I've already snorted my way through every line of good crack availabe on this site and I need my fix before the ninjas come for me. ... Hopefully the green ones. ...)**


	17. In Which There are Mood Swings

**House Calls**

**Chapter 17  
**

**

* * *

**

"And you're going to Suna why?"

"Diplomatic… stuff."

"You can't go alone?" Sakura asked with a skeptical frown.

Naruto scratched his cheek. "Well, I could. I just don't want to." He grinned.

"Well, I'm sure you two will have fun," Kakashi said, book at hand. Sakura noted his _empty_ soup bowl and _almost_ stalked across the kitchen to pound on him, if only out of frustration because _when_ had he managed that?

"I'm sure you will," she butted in. "Afterall, Kakashi-sensei, you're his _advisor_."

A tic in the man's cheek gave him away and she smirked as his gray eye turned on her, narrowing slightly. "I never technically agreed to take that title, Sakura-chan. Besides, you should be putting those wonderful diplomatic skills of yours to use for Konoha's sake. They don't know what they're missing."

Naruto snorted. "What are you guys talking about? You're _both_ coming. It's been ages since we got a mission together and I already asked Baa-chan to put Team Kakashi on the mission scroll."

"You weren't going to ask first?" she demanded.

"Hey, you're not _asked_ before you get assigned to any other mission," the blond pouted back. "C'mon, it'll be great!"

* * *

Sakura woke to the distinct sound of heavy footsteps in her kitchen and rose mechanically from bed. It had been two days since Naruto's announcement and her backpack was stuffed and sitting at the foot of her bed. She kept telling herself that a visit to Suna would be nice. A diplomatic mission was vacation by another, more official sounding name.

She half-wondered if Tsunade hadn't agreed to allow Team Seven to go if only to get Kakashi out of the village (when not on forced leave, he could still be a right pain in the ass if left on the bench for too long) and to get her away from her house. Recently, they had been going around in circles about it. Tsunade had attempted renege on the agreement only to be countered by the very real fact that Sakura had probably saved at least a handful of lives on top of keeping the actual clinic's numbers cut down to a manageable degree. With her clearing the health checks of men coming back from missions and taking care of training-related injuries, the hospital was allowed a tiny bit of elbow room.

This was, in all likelihood, Tsunade's way of forcing her to take a break.

Sakura padded out of her bedroom, shrugging into a robe and doing the sash as she navigated the darkness of her living room to the kitchen.

Momentarily, she groped at the wall for the switch and then an overhead light flickered to life, casting out the shadows that filled the laundry room and glinting off of the smooth surface of a clean, expressionless mask. She smirked. "Ah, so we meet again, Jackass-san."

Mud was dripping from the hem of the ANBU officer's cloak as he stood in the middle of the room. "Heal him." It was a curt directive and a body was dumped from shoulder to cot.

A soft grunt, the tangy scent of blood, a tattered cloak and clothing; Sakura took it all in quickly, her lips quirking into a frown as she stepped closer. "Who the hell is this?"

"That isn't important. Just do it."

"Tell me who it is."

"Just heal him, Haruno."

"I didn't sign up for missing-nin to be brought to my house, ANBU-boy." A ragged cough, a virtual _fountain_ of blood sprayed onto her floor, splashing against her bare legs and feet. "Oh, way to go, _Hyuuga_."

* * *

"Sakura-chan? You okay?"

Sakura started at the feel of Naruto's heavy hand on her back and looked up at him, smiling tiredly. It was early morning, barely just after dawn, and they were standing together at the gates waiting for Sai and Kakashi. "I'm fine," she replied. "Sleepy. Had a patient last night that gave me some problems."

"Oh." He looked away, his hand dropping to his side. "All right."

She frowned at him, shifting her stance uneasily as she folded her arms over the heavy bulk of her vest. Oh, did she hate the thing. Flak jackets were cumbersome and uncomfortable. It was amazing that so many ninja practically _lived_ in the goofy things. Not to mention that hers was white, designating her as the medic, and the stupid thing was _impossible_ to keep clean. However, going to Suna on a diplomatic endeavor called for a good bit more formality than _just_ her usual uniform so on with the flak jacket.

"What were you going to say?" she asked, touching his arm.

He glanced at her and rubbed uneasily at the back of his neck. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about the party."

Sakura cringed and pressed the heel of her palm to her forehead. "I wanted to talk about that too, actually. Naruto, I'm really sorry that Kakashi and I left you guys like that; it so wasn't right. I just—"

"Sakura." He was smiling as he cut her off. "You're right behind me when we're on missions. You never run away from anything, not even when it gets really bad. _I_ wanted to apologize for bugging you about going. It must have really sucked for you and _Kakashi_ to leave like that. You, um… must not get along with your family."

"I do… mostly, but… yeah, there are a few issues."

He shrugged. "Well," he began, much more cheerfully this time as he slung an arm around her, "I guess that's why you have us."

Sakura smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist to squeeze back. "Yes that's why I have you."

Well, technically him and Sai… and Kakashi.

She had been trying very hard not to give it any thought—which had been easy considering the night before—but now it weighed on her full-force, as if the thought had been waiting all _damn_ _night_ for it.

The thought of Naruto ever becoming too busy to see her was preposterous. He would be just like Tsunade in the "take paperwork, hand off to assistant, screw off for the rest of the day" department and the idea of him giving up training or dinner at Ichiraku was just madness. She would always have him.

On the same note, she would always have Sai, if only because _he_ had no one else. The others tolerated him well enough and Ino still liked him, but Sai never seemed to seek out their company the way he sought out her and Naruto. Then again, she was perfectly content to sit around in either her house or his apartment, reading her medical journals as Naruto slept and Sai sketched and painted until she was fairly certain that his fingers would fall right off. Not many people could tolerate such an easy friendship.

But there was something unique about Kakashi. He was a reliable friend as long as one didn't value punctuality and there was something relaxing about his demeanor, about the way he handled everything so calmly, which made her calm in return. But there was also something _else_. She loved Naruto and Sai and there wasn't a person she wouldn't happily punch for them—or indeed any of her friends—but that didn't fix the way their eyes glazed over when she started talking about her specific line of work. Kakashi probably wasn't _interested_ in what she had to say, but he at least put forth a valiant effort to _listen_, especially since he had first begun to show an interest in learning a little something about medicine.

There was also something about their senses of humor that meshed. A lot of people assumed that he just didn't have one, but she knew that it was there, it was just subtle. The years had jaded him and sometimes what he said was coarse or morbid and people often misunderstood that. She didn't.

"You're an old soul," Ino had told her once with a smile. "Or that's what Dad calls you."

High praise, she thought, and as good of a reason as any for why she and Kakashi got on so well.

"Hey, Sai!"

Naruto threw a hand into the air in greeting of the artist as the boy appeared, leaping down from a nearby rooftop. "Good morning," he said with a tip of his head and smile. "I'm assuming that Kakashi-senpai hasn't yet arrived."

"Nope," the other two replied in unison.

"Hm."

"Bet we could probably make it to the Hokage's monument and back before he gets here," Naruto said with a sly look in Sai's direction. "Well, I probably could. You might drag too far behind."

The artist raised an eyebrow in reply. "You're on, dickless."

Sakura rolled her eyes. A sure recipe for hyperactive disaster was dragging Naruto out of bed too early in the morning and then expecting him to _wait_. The prospect of going to Suna just made this worse.

"Time us, Sakura-chan!"

She didn't have time to so much as wave them off before they both vanished. With an irritated sigh she blew her bangs out of her eyes, folded her arms, and scuffed the toe of her boot against the ground. Waiting around here was just about the last thing she wanted to do.

She blamed her own restlessness for what she did next.

* * *

Kakashi didn't get on Sakura's case for her highly fragranced shampoo and soap for a number of reasons. First of all, there were very, very few people with a sense of smell as sensitive as his and therefore it would never _matter_. Secondly, Sakura was hardly stealthy to begin with. Her fighting style didn't readily allow for it and her designation as the team's medic rarely called for it. Thirdly, she had gotten so good at the silent approach that he was grateful for the forewarning.

"Kakashi."

She was suddenly beside him and, to his slight amusement, wearing her flak jacket. Well, the trip to Suna wouldn't be a quiet one. He certainly didn't enjoy the heat, but Sakura was easily its biggest detractor and with the standard issue gear thrown on top? There was whining to be had.

"Sakura."

She fell in beside him and for several long minutes—it could have been hours for all he knew—they stood in silence and stared at the Cenotaph, him with his hands buried in his pockets and her with her hands clasped behind her. Her long hair was pulled back, as always, by her forehead protector with just a few stray locks splayed across her forehead. He spared her a look out of the corner of his eye and then turned back to the Cenotaph. "I must be very late if you came looking for me."

Over the years, his ritual had been interrupted many, many times. Before his death, Sarutobi often 'stumbled upon' him there and it being so close to the training grounds, more than a few Genin in their time had come across him as well, usually running away shortly after he acknowledged them.

This was the first time she had ever come across him like this, but as far as company went, Sakura was already infinitely more preferable; maybe not necessarily to Sarutobi, but certainly to the Genin and just about every other possible candidate.

"Not really," she replied at length. "And it's still three days to Suna whether we leave now or two hours from now."

He nodded. "Then why did you come?"

She looked his way briefly and then shrugged. "Don't know. The boys are racing to the monument and back and asked me to time them and I got bored waiting." She paused and then shook her head, pressing a palm to her forehead. "I'm sorry, I'll leave."

Kakashi, without thinking, reached out for her wrist as she turned away from him and then, after contemplating for a moment why he did that, he gently guided her back into place beside him. His hand returned automatically to his pocket and the annoying, jumping, nauseated feeling returned to his stomach.

What just happened? Hell if he knew. The best explanation he had was that he just didn't _want_ her to leave and that was that.

It was certainly more logical than any of his other excuses.

Sakura said nothing and they stood there for another small eternity in companionable quiet.

"I wear this mask…" He trailed off, not sure where this was coming from, where it was going, or even _why_, but knowing that it needed to be said, to take in the frayed and unfinished edge of their conversation from a few nights ago. "I _used_ to wear this mask because I looked like my father. You were right."

Sakura looked away. "You don't have to, Kakashi."

"Hey, you asked," he replied with a shrug. "You never did before."

"I thought it'd be rude."

He shrugged again. "When have you ever been able to offend me?"

Her eyes flickered to him and then away again. "It just seemed like a horrible thing to bring up," she whispered, "Like rubbing salt into an opened wound, I suppose."

Kakashi shook his head slowly. "Scars," he corrected. "They're just scars now, Sakura."

She looked to him, fully this time, and smiled a real genuine smile that made her eyes light up. It didn't fade as she reached out to pat his shoulder. "I'm going back. Don't stay here too much longer, Kakashi. If we end up travelling through the desert during midday, I'll be forced to be particularly loud when complaining about it."

He smiled. "I'll try."

* * *

"Gaara!"

Sakura watched Naruto promptly break rule one of visiting Suna (Try to Act Like the Diplomatic Envoy You Are) and lunge at the Kazekage, sweeping the redhead up into a bear hug (just for giggles probably). It was mid-morning and the sun was already viciously beating down on them. This was the third day of their journey and she was covered from head to foot in a layer of grime and sweat and for the last three hours she had been walking on a stone in her boot that she couldn't quite reach. So, to say that she was happy to see the Suna Siblings was a bit of an understatement.

It wasn't strange for the former Jinchuuriki and his brother and sister to meet them in the desert when they knew that they'd be coming. Truthfully, it was not something Kage typically did, but then anyone who would ever try to bestow some sort of rule set on Gaara had clearly suffered heavy brain damage at some point in their lives.

To Gaara's credit, he let it happen. He even looked vaguely amused as he stared down at his blond friend. "Naruto?"

"Yeah?"

"Put me down."

The blond grinned and promptly dropped his friend to his feet, beaming and unabashed as he folded both arms behind his head.

"Damn, you win."

Sakura looked to Temari as she fell in beside her and the boys began to talk—well, Naruto talked. Kankuro chimed in occasionally and Gaara, Sai, and Kakashi just stood there, listening. "Well, Naruto might not always be tallest. Gaara can grow until he's twenty-one," she reassured the blond woman. "Make another bet for next year?"

Temari smiled. She was standing with her hips cocked and her elbow propped on the butt of her sturdy fan. "Sure. Make it twenty?"

The medic nodded and then stepped forward to hug the Sand kunoichi, earning the familiar response of a stiffened spine and an awkward pat on the back. It was actually kind of amusing at first, but if one thought too heavily upon it and considered her family history, it was actually rather sad. "It's good to see you again," she said.

"You have no idea how nice it'll be to have another girl around," Temari replied as she pulled away, looking just vaguely awkward but recovering quickly. "I get tired of all the machismo. How long are you going to be in Suna?"

"As long as it takes for the boys to get the required meetings out of the way and the necessary papers signed," Sakura replied with a shrug. "Kakashi-sensei, Sai, and I are all here just to be at your disposal I guess.."

Temari nodded, looking pleased. "I'm sure we'll be able to find some work for you. After all, the Copy-nin is pretty famous even around here; maybe the old man can scare a few of our students straight at the academy."

Sakura laughed. "I'm sure he'd enjoy that. How have Kazekage-sama and Kankuro been?"

"Oh, you know: _boys_." Temari waved her hand like she was dismissing the antics of two toddlers. "How about yours?"

"Well, they're in one piece and I always consider that a triumph at the end of the day," she replied to the blonde's amusement. The boys had begun to move, leading the way to the next dune and they followed automatically. "Tell me how the hospital's doing."

* * *

"Hey, Haruno. Come down to my workshop later, like after lunch. I need to show you something."

Sakura would be the first to admit that her history with Kankuro leaned a little toward the bizarre. Saving someone usually didn't mean a lot besides the relief that she felt after having been useful. She never would laud it over anyone because it was her job and if she ever did then Tsunade would string her upside down by her toes and beat her like a piñata. But it had formed a sort of connection between her and the puppet master that had gone from a shaky rope bridge to something rather sturdy over the years; this progression helped along greatly by Naruto's and Gaara's friendship and her bi-annual trips to check on the hospital.

That and there was just a connection between puppet masters of Suna with their poisons and medical-ninja of Konoha with their antidotes. Given, now it wasn't about trying to kill each other as much as it was just a big chemistry set showdown, but still the connection was alive and well and she felt that somewhere Chiyo was having a good laugh.

But, in Sakura's experience, "I need to show you something" was almost always followed by something bad. Memorably, when last used by Kiba he was coughing blood. So she didn't have high hopes for the coming conversation; _especially_ not when it led her downstairs into the dark and cluttered "workshop".

"Oh, gods!"

Workshop. Her. Ass. The place was a freakin' nightmare. Arms, legs, torsos, and heads carved from wood laid everywhere; spread out on tables, dangling from the ceiling on ropes and hooks, looking like the broken bodies of people in the dim half-light as the fluorescent bulb overhead took its sweet time heating up.

And then there was Sasori. He was propped awkwardly in the corner, obviously in the process of being repaired with his legs missing and his head carefully set on the table beside his body.

Sakura tried not to be put off by the familiar, dead-eyed face that was staring at her from the tabletop with much the same expression as a fish on sale at the market, but that was a tall order. She had never quite believed Kankuro's reasoning that, "It was a perfectly good body, why put it to waste?" Not when Sasori had almost killed him. Not when Sasori had been a part of the organization that had captured and killed Gaara on Kankuro's watch. Not when taking the puppet master's body and turning it into one of his own personal weapons was like an extreme and drawn-out way of dancing on the man's grave.

In that light, she realized that she probably should have been more put off by _Kankuro_ than his morbid trophy.

"What's your—oops." He grinned, not looking guilty or apologetic at all as he realized what had startled her. "Sorry about that—" Through what sounded almost like a giggle—"I'm upgrading some of his components and… you probably don't want to hear about that."

"Not particularly," Sakura agreed with her arms crossed tightly over her midsection.

Mercifully, Kankuro grabbed a stain and varnish-splattered drop-cloth from the floor and threw it hastily over the puppet, arranging it to cover the body and the head before turning back to look at Sakura and clapping his hands. "So…"

"_So_?" she prompted, glancing around and then spotting the wheeled stool he probably used when at the workbench. She hopped lightly up onto the seat and fixed him with an expectant look. "You're the one who brought me down here. Spill."

He nodded and glanced around suspiciously before moving to the door and locking it. Sakura lifted an eyebrow when he turned back to her. "I… okay…" He rubbed at his chin as he moved back to the workbench and leaned against it. She swiveled her seat toward him. "Two things."

Sakura raised an eyebrow as he pulled himself up onto the workbench and removed his hat. "Okay…"

"First of all, do not freak out."

Oh, this was really not good. Any time, _"Hey, I need to show you something"_ was used in tandem with, _"But don't freak out"_ she instinctively expected it to be followed by: "But I think that was poisoned", "But I was trying this new Jutsu…", and, her personal favorite, "Don't freak out, but I accidentally swallowed a kunai."

"Secondly, you can't tell Temari. Or Gaara."

Sakura jerked free of her reverie at once and narrowed her eyes. "What did you do?" she demanded.

Kankuro scowled—his paint making him look either menacing or ridiculous, she couldn't decide. "I just mean that I want to tell them myself, okay?" he snapped back.

The medic sighed and lifted her hands in surrender as she crossed her legs. "Fine. Lay it on me."

He nodded and Sakura watched boredly as he began to undo the sash of his long outer-robe. "Take a picture, it'll last longer," he advised as he got the knot loosened and bared his teeth in a broad grin.

"Oh, please," the girl snorted, smiling despite the tone of her voice. "Not only am I a medic, but I've been on a team of all boys since I was twelve; you don't have anything above _or_ below the waist I haven't seen before."

Kankuro laughed and she half-expected a jab in return, but it never came as he shrugged his robe off, letting it pool on the table behind him. For a minute, she couldn't tell what his point was. He wore an undershirt, which he wasn't offering to remove so it couldn't have anything to do with his chest and—_holy crap_.

Sakura blinked several times, almost not believing what she was seeing until he peeled his right glove off and it sunk in.

Joints. Visible joints. Seams where individual components came together to make knuckles and fingers, attached to a palm and then jointed again at the wrist. Seams at his elbow, where the difference in coloring between his _prosthetic_ and his flesh was just barely noticeable…

Kankuro scowled at her. "Don't freak out," he said again, warningly.

She raised an incredulous eyebrow at him. "Do you need a psych exam? What the _hell_ did you do?"

"What did you think I was going to do when I asked you how you thought Chiyo-baasama managed this?" he asked with a derisive scoff.

"You're right, I should have assumed that you'd go and cut off your own arm," she replied, throwing her hands into the air. "Silly me!"

He rolled his eyes in frustration. "You're so damn melodramatic," he muttered. "It's not like I did this by myself. I talked to Ebizo-jiisama and I had a medic from the hospital help. And it's just an arm."

Sakura sighed and began to massage her temples. Just an arm. Right. "So, why are you showing me?"

"My shoulder's been killing me since I finally attached it," he said, rotating the joint for emphasis. "But the damn medic that helped won't even fuckin' _look_ at it again until I tell Temari and Gaara and I don't want to go there yet because they'll probably react like you just did. Temari will at least."

"And you think time will sweeten that reaction?" she asked dubiously.

"Just look at it," he huffed.

"No!" the girl snapped. "Tell Temari and Gaara and then I'll look at it."

"Yeah, I can see that going over well; telling them when I still need you to check it over for me. They'll think I fucked it up."

Sakura gaped at him for a moment and then, at a loss for words, settled for flailing her arms helplessly and mutely at him, earning yet another eye roll, which she was quickly getting _sick_ of seeing. "At least tell Gaara," she wheedled.

"I want you to fix it first. At least figure out if it's got something to do with the muscles or if it's something _I_ need to tweak."

She glared and folded her arms obstinately.

Kankuro simply grinned in response and reached out with the prosthetic, wiggling the fingers in what was probably meant to be a tempting fashion (and she couldn't help but note with surprise the amount of dexterity in his movements). "C'mon," he coaxed sweetly. "You know you're dying to poke and prod and do your medic thing. You love this freaky shit."

She did her best to continue scowling, but couldn't deny the fact that he was right; no matter how much she really wanted to punch him for being so crude.

That was the basis for their relationship, she supposed. Their particular specialties more or less called for an interest in the macabre. She had seen _everything_ as a medic and there was very little left in the world that could truly ever disturb her. It just happened that she was fascinated by it now, by the abnormal and the bizarre, by what the human body could survive and adapt to. It was the same part of her that was so driven to help save Kakashi's Sharingan and the same part now that wanted to "poke and prod" Kankuro's new arm.

By the same token, puppet masters not only tended to be artistic and creative in the construction of their puppets, they put a lot of care and thought into the ways they could inflict pain, formulating special poisons and techniques for that purpose alone. Then there was the whole morbid concept of human puppetry. Kankuro didn't appear to be into the latter, but he took everything else a step further with the ghoulish, stage make-up and the black from head-to-toe and the poisons that Sakura had been afraid to even handle.

She glanced at his arm again and then met his eyes. He flashed a winning smile that she responded to with a frown of disapproval. "I look at it, I fix it, and then you tell your siblings," she said as she rolled her chair forward.

"Why do you even care if I tell them?" he asked with a sigh.

"Because maybe they'll keep a better eye on you next time so you don't go hacking off a leg! Now lay down."

* * *

Sakura hated to do it. After all, Kankuro was kind of her friend. He was also kind of a _bastard_ and after she had examined him, he haughtily informed her that he had no intention of telling his siblings about his experiment just yet, but thank you anyway for the check-up, doc. He even saluted her with fake limb while holding it in his other hand, smirking and preening and obviously quite proud of himself.

She had just stared him, one eyebrow raised as she wondered how exactly he had failed to get the memo that she was Tsunade's student and therefore well-versed in the art of getting her way by force. Left with little other choice, she did the mature and reasonable thing: she stole his arm_._

Needless to say, the expression on Baki's face when she came across him in one of the upper hallways with Kankuro hot on her heels and hollering at her to give him his damn arm back was one of confusion. Until she threw him the limb, that is. Then it was just _priceless_.

* * *

"I don't see what the big deal is."

Sakura wanted to smack him. Of course, Kakashi was just being difficult, but she wanted to smack him anyway. "You don't see what the big deal is about cutting off your own limb and replacing it with something artificial on _purpose_?" she asked.

She had run into him in the hallway (literally and the only reason she hadn't broken her nose on his sternum was a hasty duck and pirouette that had him applauding sarcastically). It was lucky, really. She didn't particularly want to meet puppet-ambush-death around the next hallway in the tower and knew that he had an appointment to be late to at the academy, so she asked him to join her for a walk around the village.

"All right, it's _weird_, but ninja from Suna have always been pragmatic when it comes to combat." He shrugged, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "What did he equip it with?"

Sakura rubbed her forehead. "A chakra shield, like what Chiyo-baasama had. And I get that he thinks it's for the best and it _is_ a handy little tool, but… but for crying out loud, it's just wrong! You can't do that to your body!"

"Well, apparently you can."

This time she did smack him and he simply creased an eye at her in reply. "So, where's Sai?" she asked, deciding that a change of subject was for the best as she adjusted the hood of her cowl. Temari had loaned it to her, tutting about Sakura being far too pale and burning to a crisp under the desert's punishing rays. _"You're a medic, you should know this. We're getting into summer around here and there aren't any trees to provide shade. Honestly, Sakura!"_

No wonder Kankuro hadn't wanted to tell her.

"Off… somewhere." Kakashi gestured vaguely to the city around them. "He had his brushes with him, so I'm assuming that whatever he's doing, it's harmless."

Sakura nodded and took a breath. The air here was dry it had her reaching for her water bottle every twenty seconds. Ugh, just looking at Kakashi made her sweat a little harder. How could he stand it in all of those layers? She was in shorts and a tank-top and she still felt like she was going to die of heat exhaustion at any minute.

"Do you want to come to the academy with me?" he asked suddenly.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

He shrugged. "Maybe show off some of that chakra control, explain what it is to be a medic-nin—"

"Take over some of your responsibilities," she interrupted with a grin.

"Well, it's not like you can go back to the Tower."

Huh, good point. She shrugged. "Sure, but I might have to skip out early. I talked to one of the head doctors this morning and promised to do my walk-through today. Want to join me?"

"What do you think?"

* * *

Kakashi often acted on instinct as it often served him well. There were just certain gut feelings that one was stupid to ignore, he thought. For example, the minute he stepped foot outside of the academy, gladly leaving behind the slack-jawed brats contained there-in (classes hadn't gone very well), he _knew_ that Sakura wasn't at the Kazekage Tower.

And he wasn't at all surprised when he found her standing at the gravesite of Chiyo-baasama. A bundle of desert flowers lay at the base of the headstone and Sakura was busy brushing the sand and dust away from it, quietly murmuring to herself as she did so.

It was startling, what the moment did to her and how much older she looked as she worked. He stepped closer.

Sakura rose to her feet and he paused briefly as their eyes met. She smiled warmly at him and then took a few steps away from the grave before turning to face it again. Her head bowed as she clasped her hands before her and for several minutes neither of them moved or spoke.

Only when she lifted her head did he take another step toward her.

Kakashi might have turned on his heel and left her alone not very long ago, thinking this moment too private to interrupt. However, when his hand came down on her shoulder she laid her own over it, not pushing it away but rather squeezing it, silently expressing her gratitude. She wanted him there.

Good thing too. Because he wanted to be there, he realized, like she had been for him not so many days ago. His chest clenched. It had been the first time in years that standing before the Cenotaph hadn't left him feeling numb and cold.

He stood with her until twilight fell over the village and even then Sakura hadn't seemed to notice how much time had gone by.

"Sakura."

She started when he shook her gently and looked expectantly up at him, her brows lifting.

"Dinner?" he suggested with a nod in the direction of the tower.

Sakura blinked at him and then glanced around, her eyes widening slightly. She looked to him sheepishly, but he simply smiled at her and squeezed her shoulder again, because he knew how it went… because he was happy to be there.

* * *

Baki apologized for the fact that their hosts couldn't make it to dinner—cue meaningful, sideways look to Sakura—they were currently dealing with family matters—another meaningful glance—and apologized profusely for themselves.

Sakura knew that this, roughly, meant that Temari was still bawling Kankuro out and Gaara had been called in to make certain no one ended up dead.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi."

Dinner had been short, mostly because dinner had been disgusting. While Naruto would eat anything covered in enough soy sauce, Sakura had never managed to pick-up the appropriate taste buds required to enjoy Wind Country delicacies. Sand dango was okay if one didn't mind the texture, but lizard meat could go right back to the rock it had the misfortune to crawl out from under at the most inconvenient of times.

"What are you apologizing for?"

Sakura sighed as she dropped her hands to her lap. They were seated together on the bed in her guest suite, having taken up that familiar position of facing one another with their legs folded. "I'm totally useless," she replied. "I haven't made much progress on your Sharingan at all."

"Which is still more than what I was expecting," he replied, both eyes creasing in a happy smile.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Thanks."

She flopped onto her side and pulled one of the many pillows close to her chest, hugging it as she laid her head on another.

Kakashi, to her surprise, mimicked her. Mocking her, yes, but it made her smile anyway. "You're not pouting about getting my hopes up, are you? Because I promise that you didn't."

"If you're trying to comfort me about being a crappy medic, you suck at it."

He regarded her seriously for a moment and then shrugged. "Well, I tried."

Sakura laughed and reached behind her for another pillow, swinging it at his head even though he did exactly what she had expected him to and blocked the blow easily. "I hope you know that I'm not ready to give up," she said after a long pause.

He shrugged. "I know you better than to expect you to."

She nodded and let out a long breath. "I hope Temari isn't still yelling at Kankuro," she murmured. "I might start feeling bad for the guy."

Kakashi chuckled and rolled over onto his back. He had ditched his sweater and flak jacket, wearing only his sleeveless undershirt and pants now with the ever-present mask. Still more clothing than she thought she could stand to sleep in, though. She was beginning to hope that she didn't get anymore assignments to Suna after this because it was apparently going to be a hot one that summer.

Sakura quietly watching him, still holding the pillow close. "Are you teaching another class tomorrow?" she wondered.

His eyes creased into another happy smile, which was just about the last thing she expected because earlier he hadn't had a good thing to say about the students. "Taijutsu," he said.

Oh, well then that made sense. She shook her head. "Tomorrow I'm getting another tour around the hospital and I'm supposed to show them a few techniques. I'm bored already." She sighed and, after a few minutes, forced herself to sit up. "Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"I respect and love you and all that, but get out."

He laughed again, sparing her an amused look, and then got up. "Fine."

Sakura snorted when he began to stretch, making a big deal of shaking out each leg and then lifting both arms high above his head. "Oh, get out," she scolded, lifting a foot and kicking at his chest.

He caught her ankle even while he was mid-yawn (or she assumed he was by the way his mask contorted), which caught her up in the strange mixture of wry amusement, frustration, and incredulity. The man was seriously a piece of work. She was half-tempted to kick at him with her other foot but figured that she knew the results—_oh_.

Sakura jerked when his thumb traced the delicate arc of her ankle bone. It was a slow, smooth stroke; offhanded rather than intentional. More likely it was just a mindless reaction on his part to placate her before she _did_ try to kick him again. But… but that didn't explain away the unfamiliar burn in her chest or the fact that her stomach had just attempted to lodge itself in her throat.

It was… intimate? She wracked her brain for reasoning. Intimate, how exactly? And how was it any more intimate than the numerous other and far more potentially compromising positions they were ever in? And if it was why didn't it freak her out?

She stared at him, hoping that her expression was at least kind of neutral, but the way he was holding her gaze was strange. Had he felt it too? Another burst of warmth.

"Good night, Sakura-chan," he said after lingering for just a moment too long.

Sakura nodded mutely and followed him to the door with her gaze. He pulled it shut behind him and she heard it latch with a soft "click" and then, and only then, did she allow herself to fall back onto the bed.

Maybe she was just losing her mind. Maybe it was hormones. Maybe that lizard was finally just coming back on her.

* * *

1. Looooong chapter again! Yay! Also, I love ma peeps!

2. All right, so I'm totally aware that this chapter has a bad case of the mood-swings. Just roll with it.

3. So, first (third?) order of business: I realize that the scene with the ANBU was very short, but that was kind of the point. It originally started off as a dialogue-only scene, but I felt I had to give it another leg to stand on. It isn't supposed to be the focus, really. It's a prelude to another, tentative idea I have that might be playing out soon. Also, "Way to go Hyuuga" is a line I've had planned since chapter one. It doesn't necessarily have to be Neji, I did aim for a bit of ambiguity there, but it can be him if the image of Sakura sassing off to him makes you laugh.

When I started writing the first chapter, the ANBU thing was giving me fits. For two reasons really: first of all, secret identities don't do a lot of good if you have very distinctive hair. Waist-length, violet-colored hair, short, spikey gray hair, long, pink hair, super long, dark brown hair. Secondly, when fighting alongside an ANBU, you could, in all likelihood, take a wild guess at the identity by watching their fighting style. I call the Gentle Fist style out on this in particular because it's a pretty damn huge giveaway when someone's hacking up blood without any sign of external injury.

4. Maybe that's why they're supposed to use a katana (yes, this thought required its own number, shut up).

5. Kankuro. Like any side character in Naruto, I love Kankuro except he gets double points because of the freak factor. There's just something an inch bit off about a guy that makes a puppet out of an old foe. I know that Sasori wasn't a real boy anyway, but still. Originally that scene was going to manifest as a "I challenge you to make an antidote for this poison in three hours" scene, but then Kankuro got a little crazier and I went with the arm thing. Besides, with poisons you can't imagine the O.O! look on Baki's face when Sakura throws him an _arm_.

I justify Kankuro's crazy with this: 'cause I wanted to. He's got definite potential for it, just doing what he does, and I like the idea of the mad artist.

6. If the quality steadily diminished, I apologize. I've been a bit under the weather and currently I look a little like Quasimodo, with a swollen eye and mouth. I have no idea what's going on but to the best of my understanding my immune system just told me to go to hell.

7. Yay! More squishy, pink feelings! This time on Sakura's end! Or maybe it was just the lizard. Who knows.

8. All right, I have an assload of homework to get to, so the note section is going to suffer this time around. Send me lots of lovely reviews so I have something to break up the monotony of working on spreadsheets!

9. I HATE DATABASING CLASSES!


	18. In Which the Monotony is Broken

**House Calls**

**Chapter 18**

**

* * *

**

"He screwed it up, didn't he?"

Kankuro's scowl darkened. "I didn't screw anything up!" he snapped. "If something's wrong, then the fuckin' medic did it wrong!"

Temari responded by slapping her hand against the back of her brother's head before turning again to Sakura, who was examining the area where the prosthetic connected to his elbow. It really was seamless work. She'd have to get the medic's name from Kankuro and arrange to meet with them. They had some real talent that was apparently going unnoticed. "He screwed up, right?" the blond asked again.

"Temari!"

Another smack.

Sakura smiled as she lowered her hands back to her lap. "Actually, there's nothing wrong with any of it. Kankuro formed the implanted socket perfectly—" _She_ smacked him when he preened at this—"and the medic did a bang-up job piecing it all together and meshing it with his skin."

"Then why is he in pain?" Gaara wondered from where he stood in the corner, his arms crossed, observing the scene impassively.

The medic shrugged. "He had an arm cut off. It's going to hurt. It'll hurt for a good long time too as his body needs to acclimate to the implanted joint. Not to mention all of the extra chakra he's pumping into his shoulder to control the prosthetic; it's overworking the muscles. But see if he had contacted someone who knew anything about this before he went and did something so _stupid_, he might have known that so he could've—"

"I get the fuckin' point!"

Another smack. Sakura spared Temari a grateful look.

"I can prescribe something to reduce inflammation of the muscles," Sakura said, rubbing her forehead and sighing. "He just has to take it easy. Preferably by letting the muscles rest. In that case someone should probably confiscate the prosthetic."

Kankuro let out a bark of indignation at this and Temari looked rather prepared to take the medic seriously. Gaara stepped forward before an argument could ensue. "Thank you, Haruno-san."

Sakura smiled. "Not a problem. I'll talk to the men in the greenhouse about the anti-inflammatory and have it made up before tonight."

Temari looked exasperated, even as she reached out to run her fingers through Kankuro's hair. "You idiot," she whispered.

Kankuro's lip was partially curled in a sneer, but there was something vaguely apologetic and gentle about his expression as he regarded his sister. "I knew what I was doing," he said, just as quietly. "She just said I did everything right."

"I don't care," his sister replied, the gentle combing of her fingers turning into a harsh prodding against his temple. Likewise, the tender expression vanished from Kankuro's painted face, replaced immediately by a scowl. "I'm the oldest here! As my little brothers, you and Gaara belong to _me_ and I'm the only one allowed…"

Sakura's attention wandered away from the fighting as her eyes met the Kazekage's. With a barely discernable tip of his head, he indicated the door and she followed him out of the small study they had gathered in and into the empty hall. Oh, there were about five billion other places she would have preferred being that morning, but since Temari didn't feel like she had chewed _quite_ enough ass the night before—even though she had yelled herself hoarse—she had continued in on it that morning. Gaara, to settle the matter, had put off his meetings with the elders, summoned Sakura, and instructed her to complete another exam.

"Are there any other tests that need to be completed?" he asked once the door was shut behind her.

Sakura shrugged. "There shouldn't be. We know what's wrong. It's up to Kankuro to be responsible about it now. It'll take a while for his body to adjust, but he should be fine. He did think this out, you know. He found Chiyo-baasama's old notes and worked off of them with the medic and Ebizo-jiisama."

Gaara nodded slowly, his arms still fixed across his chest. "He is... stable then?"

Even Gaara seemed uncomfortable with the subject and Sakura found herself smiling at his concern. His severely straight-faced, downplayed concern, but it was there and that was a lot for the former Jinchuuriki.

She glanced back at the study door.

Ninja did strange things to cope with the pressures of their profession. Some adapted to the stress by drinking, gambling, smoking—picking up an insidious habit that would distract them in their off-hours. Others learned to feed off of the stress, the adrenaline, and the excitement to the point that _retirement_ for these individuals was an exercise in staying sane.

And then there were others still, perhaps even making up the majority, who latched onto a mission, either the most current one or a larger, overarching goal. They dedicated themselves to their teammates, their village, or their families and their sole purpose for breathing and living and fighting was _that _particular thing.

Kankuro had never made the lengths to which he would go for his siblings a secret, especially not when it came to Gaara. Only now did the full weight of that dedication settle on her.

Sakura smiled. It seemed a lot less crazy in that light. Sure, it still _looked_ "lock me up and throw away the key" insane, but there was love in the gesture. A weird, deranged sort of love but love nevertheless and given that the siblings seemed to communicate their feelings in the language of violence and antagonism it _was_ fitting.

Then again, this village had also turned out the likes of _Sasori_ and therefore it seemed perfectly reasonable to fear for the worst.

"I think he's fine," Sakura said with a reassuring smile. "I can give him a psych exam if you really want me to, but he does know what he's doing and… _you're_ probably the only reason he did it and if you make it clear to him…"

She trailed off, hoping that she wouldn't have to go any further. Gaara had come such a long way over the years, in no small part because of his friendship with Naruto. She had some faith that he'd know where she was going with this. Although, he looked vaguely guilty as well and Sakura didn't know if that was appropriate or not; he hadn't _asked_ his brother to do this. He hardly needed to, but still…

"Chiyo-baasama did the same thing," she offered with a wimpy shrug. "She was even a medic-nin."

Chiyo-baasama had also lived in a very cutthroat time where some sacrifices were absolutely worth any edge that could be had in battle.

Gaara was quiet for a moment longer and then nodded. "Thank you."

Sakura glanced back at the study, knowing that the words were the most polite dismissal she would receive, and then turned on her heel and departed.

* * *

"It's been a week and a half! I'm going stir crazy at the hospital!"

Naruto groaned. "You think that's bad? I've had meetings with Gaara and the elders every day since we got here. In full robes and everything. I don't know how anyone functions in this heat!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. The blond was sprawled out on her bed, his head pillowed against her shins as she sat with a medical text on her lap and her back to the wall. Oh, gods did she hate the desert. Miserable as hell during the day and impossibly cold at night, she found herself shucking her shorts and tank top for the one Jonin sweater she owned and a pair of sweats almost the instant the sun went down. "You realize that when you become Hokage, you'll do nothing but stamp out paperwork and meet with _our_ elders? Air conditioning or no, it's still going to be _boring_."

"Well, yeah," he grumbled. "You realize that when we get back to Konoha, you'll be doing the same thing at that hospital?"

She scoffed. "Hardly. No one follows me around in Konoha. I can spend all day in the lab running tests, formulating antidotes, and looking at X-rays and no one asks me one time to show them _again_ how to realign bones using the Mystical Palm technique. I only get called out on rounds and emergencies."

Naruto grinned in a rather patronizing way. "They're just not used to someone as awesome as you Sakura-chan."

He threw her one thumb up and Sakura rolled her eyes again. "I'm honestly surprised that Kakashi's still teaching at the academy without causing a riot," she murmured. "He usually gets restless a long time before we do. Sai, what have you been doing? I haven't seen you."

Sai glanced up from his sketchpad. He was seated on the floor with his back to the bed. "I've been on night patrols with Kankuro-san," he replied. Sakura shifted, pushing her book and Naruto aside so that she could lie on her stomach and look over the artist's shoulder. The page was covered in pencil sketches of desert flowers.

"When did you start that?" Naruto asked, frowning as he situated himself against Sakura's pillows.

"Shortly after he was ordered not to overexert himself," Sai replied. "His sister was very adamant."

Sakura frowned. "So, you've got to be as bored as the rest of us."

"Not really," he said with a shrug.

Oh, right. Sai didn't _get_ bored. Sakura wished, often, that she could be so easily entertained by her own thoughts.

"Ah, here you are."

The door opened and none of them were particularly surprised to see Kakashi step, holding Paradise in one hand and a scroll with the other. Sakura and Naruto immediately brightened at the latter's presence.

"A mission?" Naruto chimed hopefully. "Gaara's sending us somewhere? Hunting missing-nin, chasing the Wind Daimyo's wife's pet lizard, something?"

Kakashi smiled. "Well, yes. It is a mission, but I'm afraid that I could only arrange for Sakura—"

Sakura shot across the room with a whoop and threw one arm around her former sensei's neck as she snatched the mission scroll up with the other. "You're the best!" she cheered gleefully.

"—To join me." The man smiled again, hunched slightly to allow for their difference in heights as her arm lingered around his neck. "I thought you'd appreciate it."

"Aw, man!" Naruto pouted, his arms dangling over the edge of the bed. "I want to go!"

"Sorry, Naruto," Kakashi replied, rubbing at the back of his head with his now free hand as Sakura eagerly opened the scroll. "But you were sent here for a reason; to get a firsthand look at what it means to be a Kage and Gaara is being very generous giving you that chance. That and to get you out of Tsunade's hair, I supect."

"There's nothing much to envy here anyway," Sakura said with a sigh. "It's just a courier mission."

Kakashi shrugged. "It's all I could get. Suna missions are usually for Suna ninja."

"How selfish of them," she replied, feigning a pout and then looking back to the scroll. "Well, this shouldn't be too bad. A few days tops."

"A few days that we're not at the academy," he said.

"Or the hospital." Sakura smiled and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "When are we leaving?"

"We shouldn't travel during the day, so we'll leave tomorrow evening," Kakashi replied. "That should give you time to pack your things."

"I'll get right on it."

Naruto sighed and tumbled off of the bed, landing in a crouch on the floor. "We'll get out of here, then," he said with an exaggerated pout as he motioned for Sai to follow him to the door. "You've got things to do before leaving. We understand."

"At a boy," Kakashi replied, reaching out to ruffle the blond's hair and earning an indignant huff in reply.

Sakura shook her head and gave Sai a quick squeeze around the middle. "We'll be back before you even notice we're gone," she said, moving to Naruto and smiling as she embraced him next. "I promise we won't have too much fun."

"Yeah, yeah," he sighed. "Man, is it gonna be like this when I'm Hokage too?"

"Afraid so."

Naruto slapped his forehead. "Man!"

Sakura smiled and ushered both of the boys into the hallway and then shut the door behind then. She lingered there for a moment and then turned to face Kakashi, her happy smile drooping a little as she let her back rest fully against the door. "_So_," she drawled, brandishing the scroll. "Why did Gaara give us a B-rank mission to a village not a day away from Rain's border?"

"His other Jonin are occupied or benched," Kakashi replied with a shrug. "I volunteered us. It's supposed to be simple; B-rank because of the potential hazard."

"Well, _yeah_," she snorted. "That was kind of the war's splash zone, wasn't it?"

"All of the villages close to Rain's border suffered that. We're going to meet with a retired Suna-nin who has been gathering information on the criminals in the area, get the information, and come back. It's only B-rank because of the risk of Missing-nin in that particular area."

"Oh, it always ends up being so much harder when it sounds _that_ easy. Besides, we've never had much luck with Intel," Sakura muttered, scanning the scroll again as she moved over to her bed. "Remember the river that wasn't supposed to be there in Lightning?"

Kakashi nodded. "Or the bridge that _was_ supposed to be there in Earth?"

"Oh yes, the theoretical bridge," she said with trace of ironic fondness. "Good times. So, we're heading out tomorrow night? How long before we get to the village?"

"If we take advantage of the night, we'll get there by morning," he replied.

She nodded as she stretched her arms up over her head. "So, for a B-rank mission—something you could do with _both_ eyes covered—you decided you needed a second?"

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I knew you would be as bored as me by now," he said but there was something _else_ in his eyes that made her chest clench in a painfully sweet way as he added, "Besides… you know I prefer you as a partner."

Sakura smiled, letting her hands come to rest on top of her head. "I didn't think I was your favorite."

"Well… things change."

* * *

There was something beautiful about Wind Country that even Kakashi had to own to. No, it wasn't green and lush like Fire Country, where every square inch of earth seemed to be alive and breathing, but there was an exotic, almost hypnotizing sort of majesty in the way the full moon shone down over the dunes, lighting their path.

Running across the sand was heavily assisted by chakra focused in the soles of their feet and Kakashi found himself smiling as he watched Sakura keep pace alongside him.

Things change.

No. Kidding.

He kept pushing the troubling feelings to the back of his mind whenever they would attempt to insinuate themselves upon his thoughts. Sakura was his teammate. She was probably his _closest_ friend. She was so _young_. It was almost like a mantra now, one he found himself repeating a lot these days in an attempt to fight off something he didn't properly understand.

"How are we doing on time?" Sakura asked, her voice a welcome intrusion on his thoughts.

He glanced over at her and then upwards to the moon. "It's close to three o'clock; we're doing pretty good. Do you need a breather?"

"I could probably use one."

"We'll settle down up there on that dune, okay?"

On the dune that was perfectly lit by the moon. They didn't need to be rousing any helpless desert beast from its bed… especially not if it was poison and it seemed that they _all_ were. Honestly, he had killed at least four scorpions in his bedroom over the course of the last several nights and he had heard enough surprised shrieks from Sakura's to assume that she had gotten her share of those lovely little surprises too.

"Think the boys are going to behave themselves while we're gone?" Sakura asked as she threw herself onto the sand and immediately began shucking her boots.

"I wouldn't hold out hope for it." Kakashi lowered himself down onto the ground beside her and let his pack fall to the sand on his right. She was sliding both of her hands down her legs, starting at the tops of her thighs and then moving downward, pushing healing chakra into the muscles to relieve their tension. "Am I going too fast for you?" he teased.

Sakura glanced over at him and smiled. "Kakashi," she chided, "I'm a big girl now. I'm keeping up fine. I just felt myself cramping up and figured I should take care of it now before it _does_ slow us down. What about you?"

"What about me?"

She rolled her eyes. "How are you holding up? We've been going for six hours straight at a pretty good clip and neither one of us is Naruto."

"Oh." He glanced down at his feet and wiggled his toes. "I'm fine, Sakura."

Of course, she didn't believe him (she never did) and before he could argue she was pulling his sandals off. He was just about to fight her on it or, at the very least, mercilessly harass her for molesting him, when the first warm whisper of her chakra seeped into the sole of his foot and spread all the way up his ankle and calf. It was almost paralyzing in how good it felt and he found himself flopping back into the sand. Fight? Molest? What had he been thinking about?

Sakura giggled—at his expense he knew but he could hardly care. "You're too easy, Kakashi."

"Un."

Kakashi wasn't even quite sure if he was arguing or agreeing with her. He liked to think that he was arguing—if only for the principle of the matter—but she had a good point. This was the reason he had an on-and-off, love-hate thing with her massages. Sure, they _felt_ good, but he could feel his respectability drain with every second that she spent rubbing him into a big puddle of disoriented senses and goo.

Not that it probably mattered. He had a feeling that Sakura viewed him and the boys in the same way she viewed toddlers as she cleaned up their messes, fed them, patched their booboos…

Kakashi frowned, opening his eyes. Hell, when it was put that way, he wasn't sure he liked it very much. But since when did it matter how Sakura saw him? Well, okay it always kind of had because she was his teammate and he never wanted her to _hate_ him (being on bad terms with your medic was immeasurably stupid), but what did it matter if she saw him as someone to pick up after and baby?

It didn't. It still didn't, really.

But he found himself _preferring _the idea of her seeing him as someone who would take care of _her_. And it didn't have anything to do with her being his teammate.

Shit, that was dangerous territory.

"Wow."

He lifted his head to acknowledge her, propping himself on his elbows. When had she switched feet? Ugh, oh well. "What?" he asked.

"Well, I was just thinking that I can't pick on you for being a slob anymore," she said with a laugh. "Your feet are remarkably well-groomed."

He blinked at her and then began to laugh. "Thanks?"

Sakura smacked him on the knee. "You think I'm being weird, but I'm totally serious," she said and even though she sounded angry she was smiling from ear-to-ear and he found himself mirroring her. "You should take a look at Naruto's feet, they're awful. Or, heck, just look down sometime. We live in a village where most people have their toes exposed most of the time and it's _awful_."

"I think that counts as a foot fetish," he said.

"Oh, it does not," she scoffed as she dropped his foot and threw him his sandals. "At worst I have a thing for cleanliness."

"Kinky."

Rather than smacking him, she laughed and for whatever reason he realized right then that that was probably the best sound in the world.

Dangerous territory, indeed.

(It would be a few weeks later that Kakashi would remember this conversation while walking the busy streets of Konoha, look down, and be horrified to realize that Sakura was totally, totally right.)

* * *

Sakura knew that she didn't have Kakashi's sixth sense when it came to this sort of thing, but she knew well enough to recognize the warning signs of something be _off_.

The people of Wind Country were not, by nature, trusting people and nor were they generous. Nothing disparaging was meant by this, it was simply the truth. They lived in a harsh climate and had limited resources. What they did have, they shared with family rather than strangers and since it wasn't uncommon for criminals to choose the deserted wastelands of Wind's most outer reaches, it was just _safer_ not to trust anyone the closer one got to the borders.

So why was everyone in this village offering her a place to stay for the night? These weren't casual offers out of respect for her position as ninja either, they were genuine and eager and when she tried to put them off by saying that she wasn't alone the response was always along the lines of, "The more the merrier!"

By time she actually made it back to the tiny inn she and Kakashi were staying at, they had six other places to stay and nine invitations for dinner.

"Kakashi, there's something seriously freaky—what's with the empty plate?"

Kakashi smiled happily at her as he exaggeratedly rubbed his stomach. He was seated at the table in the far rear of the cramped tavern, his back to the wall, and facing the door. "Lunch," he replied.

"I thought we were going to eat later."

"It was on the house. The innkeeper's wife insisted that I try some."

He said this with a good bit more seriousness, his tone now matching hers. Sakura lowered herself into the seat beside him. "Something's off about this place," she murmured.

"I've noticed." He pushed the empty plate away.

"Well, I could barely get down the street from the apothecary's without someone offering me a place to stay or eat," Sakura said.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Are any of those places bigger than our room now?"

"_Kakashi_," she scolded, "Focus."

He sighed and leaned his chair back onto its hind legs, letting the back catch against the wall as he folded his hands behind his head. "In my experience," he began slowly, "I've only ever gotten this kind of welcome when the locals were afraid of something."

Sakura propped her elbows on the table as she rubbed her temples. "Have we made contact with our Suna man yet?"

"No, but this is the right time of day and the instructions were to just 'stay at the inn, he'll find you'. I assume that means he owns—"

"Found ya."

"—This place."

Over the years, Sakura had gotten used to being surrounded by… well, a different sort of people: Jinchuuriki—former and present—a mask-wearing, lop-eyed man with porn habits, green-jumpsuit clad warriors of youth, and more than one person who had hacked off an arm to replace it with something more 'functional'. And these were people she considered good friends. So, she was only mildly surprised by this man's appearance. His black hair was long enough to be pulled back into a low ponytail and his eyes reminded her of Gaara's, though they were particularly striking against his heavily tanned complexion. He was barrel-chested and muscular with an assortment of black tattoos spiraling up each of his arms and scars cutting lines into his cheeks and forehead.

Well, Suna ninja certainly knew how to work the intimidation factor.

"You the Nin I been looking out for?" he wondered.

"That would be us," Kakashi replied.

"Konoha?"

"We're on loan."

The man smirked faintly as he rubbed at his chin. "You two are a couple of sore thumbs way out here." His eyes shifted from Sakura's head of pink hair to Kakashi's… well, Kakashi-ness. The mask leant to anonymity but he wasn't exactly hard to _miss._

"You're right, giant tattoos would help us blend in a lot more," Sakura replied blandly.

He spared her a look and then threw his head back and started to laugh, the sound echoing in the din of the small room. "Oban," he said, holding a hand out to her.

Sakura smiled and gripped his hand snugly in reply. "Haruno Sakura. This is Hatake Kakashi."

Oban lifted two fingers in a salute, which Kakashi returned with equally lazy enthusiasm. "Well, was kind of wishing the Kazekage would forget about this check-up," the Suna-nin muttered with a glance upwards as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Why's that?" Kakashi asked.

Oban sighed. "I retired for a reason. Seen enough fighting to last me seven lifetimes and not interested in anymore. I came out here to live in peace and I only keep in touch with Suna because I thought it'd offer the village more protection than if we were just out here alone, but…"

"But you've been having problems?"

"It's a group of thugs based north of here," the man explained. "Don't how many there really are or who their boss is, but the guy's got them coming here threatening the local girls, hassling the store keepers, and stealing everything they can. I usually pay them to go."

Sakura frowned. "But you—"

"Got a wife," Oban cut in, "And there are people here who got kids. Start causing these guys problems and they find a way to get revenge through either her or them. Turn to Suna and it'll take you a day to get there with a message and a week for it to get to the Kazekage and by then they'll have found out, retaliated, and bugged out before any team gets here."

Sakura's shoulders slumped. She looked to Kakashi and shifted slightly. "We're here," she said.

"You're Konoha ninja. It isn't your job," the Suna-nin replied with a wave of his hand.

Sakura stared even more pointedly at Kakashi, lifting her eyebrows at him and praying that she wouldn't have to reach across the table and smack him to get her point across. Finally, the Copy-nin spoke: "The Kazekage is a friend of ours. I think he'd appreciate it if we helped out."

Oban's gaze shifted from Kakashi to Sakura and then back, his brows drawn together in a skeptical frown. However, it wasn't long before he sighed resignedly and shrugged. "Fine. Suppose if the Copy-nin can't help us, there _is_ no helping. You settled upstairs already?"

"Yes, why?"

He shrugged. "What kind of host would I be if I didn't check in on my guests?" he asked as he rose from his seat. "If you're sure about staying, it shouldn't be too long before you get some action. They like to come by first to antagonize the old innkeeper."

Sakura watched him as he walked away, disappearing behind the bar and then into the backroom, before turning toward Kakashi. "So… so much for a courier mission.'

"You're not complaining, are you?"

She smirked. "Of course not. They could be missing-nin and that's more of a challenge than I've had in a few months. Oh, don't give me that Shikamaru, 'this is so troublesome' look. You've been stuck teaching at the academy for the last week. You were dying for something like this to happen."

The vaguely amused look in his eye was enough confirmation for her. "We should talk strategy…"

* * *

1. As always, I love you guys. The response to this has really surprised me.

2. *pokes Oban* Yeah... you'll do, I guess. Oh and the oft missing pronouns on his part are intentional. It's just the way he talks.

3. ZOMG, something's happening?

4. About that. I know that we've kind of meandered away from the "Sakura's house is a clinic" point of this story, but trust me when I say that we'll wander back and that during our wandering, we'll be rejoined by spotlighting random characters for giggles. I've got Shikamaru on the roster as well as another scene focusing on Sai planned.

5. Hey! Rant time!

I hate Naruto's story. Now, wipe up the drink you've just spit-take'd all of your monitor and stay with me here. I have never been a fan of Naruto's story and I thought for a long time that that meant I wasn't a fan of Naruto. That and the sheer level of fandom insanity at the time that I was first introduced to Naruto turned me off like... like something that turns me off. Anyhow, it was around the time of Shippuden when everyone took a considerable level in badass and things actually got interesting that I paid a little more attention to the story. And for that first arc where Gaara was just lying there driving the plot, I enjoyed the series a lot. It was very nostalgic and Mario-esque, except Gaara doesn't wear pink and he shouldn't because it might clash with that hair of his, but this enjoyment quickly faltered and I cast Naruto back into that pile of "meh" comprised of Justin Bieber, the war on Comic Sans, and everything else that I just don't really care about.

If I had to point out my biggest gripe with the series, other than whole mess with the Uchiha, it'd have to be this: THERE ARE TOO MANY FUCKIN' VILLAINS. Kishi, I know that it's fun to make up bad guys. They allow us to indulge in utter depravity that we wouldn't even consider most days when we're not stuck in traffic and you're very good at fleshing them out and making them compelling and bizarre and awesome, but every time you turn around in the manga there's a new Boss and Lord help you if you do away with one because then three more crop up in his place. You remember Orochimaru? Yeah, that scary badass that pukes up a snake when shit gets serious? That can puke up himself for that matter? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIM? The nearest I can tell is that he's been demoted to Madara's bitch. Oh and don't get me started on Madara. I hate him for a lot of reasons, but most of all for this: DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN SASUKE WAS THE LAST LIVING MEMBER OF HIS FAMILY? REMEMBER THAT? YOU ESTABLISHED IT FAIRLY EARLY ON!

I dare you guys to go count the number of villains. Do the math. It's mind-blowing. No wonder the plot is such a cluttered MESS.

6. (Takes Breath) Okay, I'm done.

7. To Kishi's credit (dabs a bit of balm on sword wound), the characters (although, obviously not the way they're arranged in the plot) are what keep me entertained (with fanfiction anyway). They're interesting as hell. Except Sasuke, he can just go find a snake to suck on-OOH FREUDIAN!

8. It's taken me 20 minutes to write this much.

9. Good news! I no longer look viciously deformed. It appears that whatever I was ill with has passed.

10. In time for me to pick up a cough. Yay.

**(Remember, reviews are love and love gets you shirtless scenes.)**


	19. In Which Well, You'll See

**House Calls**

**Chaper 19**

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* * *

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* * *

Sakura sighed, one hand pressed to her forehead. "Okay, so we've eliminated what we can't do."

Kakashi nodded. He was doing push-ups with the girl sprawled on his back, lying on her stomach and casually painting her nails. "We can't give them a chance to clear out," he replied. "They'll just come back later after they know we've gone and just keep doing what they've been doing."

"So, we hit them hard."

"Yeah, but we don't know how many of them there are."

"So, we'll thin the herd and take them as they come." Sakura finished her thumb nail with a flourish and then blew gently on the fresh coat. "Except… you know, maybe they shouldn't know we're ninja. They'll lay low until we leave if they find that out."

"Good point." Kakashi lowered himself slowly and rolled his eyes as she reached over his shoulder to dip her brush in the bottle of polish sitting on the floor just in front of him. "Then I guess you and I get to be a pack of wild dogs too. We'll make this a turf—is that really necessary?"

Sakura smiled. "I can paint yours next if you want," she offered, dabbing a bit of polish onto the back of his neck in retort.

He snorted. "Maybe I should have taken one of the boys."

"Oh, you know you appreciate my feminine quirks."

She could see the corner of his eye quirk into a smile. "We'll make this a turf war," he finished. "You and I will move in, posing as a rival gang."

He moved to sit up and Sakura slid easily to the floor. They were both wearing sweats, with her just in her bindings and him in his undershirt. The night workout was routine for them when out on missions. It was something to do while they talked and planned, something to burn off the energy built up in anticipation of making a move against an enemy force. That energy was never useful, Kakashi insisted. It was hyperactive and led to too many mistakes if acted on.

"An awesome force of just two people?" Sakura asked doubtfully. "They're not even going to take us serious."

"Nope and we can use that to our advantage. The first time we confront them, we'll let one run back to their boss and tell him all about the way his men got beaten up and captured by just two people. He'll think that his men are just incompetent and send more because there's only two of us and how hard is it to take out two people? That's how we'll weed them out."

Sakura hummed in agreement as she eyed him thoughtfully. "Well, if we're posing as a gang and luring them with the idea of us being a small force, I think maybe I should do the fighting. You can be the big scary boss-man."

"Sounds like you get all the fun," he replied with a barely audible pout.

She laughed at him as she laid back to do sit-ups and he slid forward to hold her ankles. "If we're going for the image of a gang we'll have to sell it and what kind of boss does any of his own legwork? Speaking of selling this, I think I can scrounge up some clothes from around town."

"That'll do," he said. "But if I'm going to be your boss, what's your character?"

"Hm… well, slightly crazy always seems to work." She grinned at him. "You know, we could probably do this without any fancy tactics."

"We could, but the situation is too delicate to mishandle," he replied and then with a faint glimmer of amusement in his eye he added, "Besides, it's more fun this way."

Sakura grinned back at him, wholeheartedly agreeing.

* * *

"You sure about this?"

Kakashi looked to Oban, who was sitting across the table from him in the pub. It was approaching midday and, according to a villager who had come in that morning, a small group of the thugs had been spotted in the desert. They'd be around soon enough.

"Don't worry about it."

Sakura was seated on the top of the bar, swinging her legs boredly. Her hair was gathered in pigtails positioned high on either side of her head above her ears and she wore a kimono given to her by one of the village women. It had been severely tattered so Sakura hacked off about a yard of fabric from the skirt and hemmed it (wielding the needle while making smug, preening noises in Kakashi's general direction). Now it just reached her mid-thigh with the front loosely tied to reveal her bindings over the simple obi. She wore her shorts underneath for practical purposes and her boots, but otherwise she looked rather the opposite of standard issue.

"We've got a plan and Sakura can more than handle herself."

Kakashi adjusted his gloves compulsively. The plain trousers and shirt were borrowed from Oban and earlier Sakura had helped him tape off the wrists of the sleeves and the hems of the pants, tucking them into his gloves and shoes. His forehead protector was foregone for a plain band of fabric, his mask was replaced by a length of bandages, and a short cloak hung around his shoulders with the hood pulled up.

"Shouldn't expect anything less than that from someone partnered with the Copy-nin, I guess," Oban conceded finally.

A moment later, from outside, there was the sound of kids shouting, calling to each other, screaming, and rapping on the windows of the inn as they rushed by—Kakashi would have to talk to Sakura about the beauty in _subtle_ signals. "You should go," he told Oban.

The tattooed man nodded as he got to his feet. He ducked behind the bar and when he paused to look at Sakura, she smiled reassuringly and winked. Then he was gone.

A part of Kakashi kept telling him that he didn't need to be there. He could be elsewhere in town making sure that there wasn't a second group of them causing trouble anywhere else. He could be upstairs napping or reading Icha Icha or any number of things that wasn't just sitting at a table and waiting for Sakura to hand the thugs their asses. He didn't have to be there just in case something happened, because Sakura didn't need him to look over her shoulder anymore.

But she smiled at him all the same and gave him a thumbs-up to show that she was ready and he promptly silenced that single, argumentative part. He rather liked where he was.

Then the door was kicked in with a resounding _WHABAM_ and a half dozen men stepped inside, pausing in confusion upon seeing the pair of oddly dressed foreigners rather than the old Suna ninja they liked to harass.

"Old man!" one shouted as he gave Kakashi an odd look. "Where are you? Come out, ya geezer!"

Kakashi decided that since this fellow was due to get some comeuppance via a misplaced jaw in a few minutes anyway, he'd take offense to that. Oban was only a few years older than him and even if he sometimes joked about being old he hardly thought of himself as a 'geezer'.

The goons spread themselves out through the tavern, a few of them taking seats as Kakashi watched Sakura watching them and looking bored. Their methods always did differ. He preferred to size potential targets up in the most subtle way possible, so as not to tip them off. She was so upfront about doing so that her methodology swung all the way back around to being inconspicuous.

Then again, sometimes it spawned its own set of problems…

"Hey, gorgeous."

_Punch him_.

The thought kind of surprised Kakashi; sneaking up on him as he watched goon number two place a hand on the bar on either side of Sakura's hips, trapping her as he moved in close. Not that it really mattered. He was trapping her, but the victory in that was questionable as he had just put his genitals in perfect range to be permanently molded with an impression of Sakura's foot.

"Aw, c'mon," the man cooed when Sakura pointedly looked away. He reached up, to hook her chin with his finger, and Sakura snapped her teeth at him warningly.

"Would you please leave my associate alone?"

Sakura and the goon both looked vaguely surprised that he had spoken (he _felt_ vaguely surprised that he had), but the surprise was short-lived on the medic's part as she chimed, "Thank you, Mr. K!"

The goon turned away from her to glower at Kakashi. "Who the hell are you?"

Kakashi didn't turn his head to acknowledge them. "Not important."

They men all glanced between themselves, obviously never having met resistance to such demands before in this village. Finally, the asker apparently not wanting to look like a complete ass in front of his friends, girded his loins, drew a sword, and stepped forward. He held the blade out threateningly toward Kakashi, who bit the inside of his cheek with the effort of not correcting the man's technique. Shit. He had been a teacher for too long. "I asked you a question, old man."

A second later, the blade clattered uselessly to ground as Sakura's drop-kick sent the man hurtling into the wall behind Kakashi, the paneling buckling under the force of the blow. She landed gracefully and scowled at the unconscious body.

Kakashi spared a glance toward the others as they shot to their feet, but held back. "If you're looking for Oban-san," he said, "He is currently indisposed. However, more pressingly you are trespassing on my property."

"Your property?" one of them scoffed.

"Yeah, his property. Ya know, Jii-chan mentioned another gang in these parts," Sakura said, stretching her arms up over her head. "He asked if we were one of ya. You should really think of that as a compliment."

"Wait, wait; what the hell do you mean your property?"

Kakashi sighed, partially to keep character and partially out of how eye-rollingly easy this was really going to be. "I mean that I need a new base of operations and I've taken a liking to this place. This inn and this town are mine. I'd appreciate it if you'd inform your boss."

There was a brief pause and then they began to laugh, doubling over themselves in guffaws. He looked to Sakura and nodded his head. It was the best opening she was going to get.

She nodded and with a gleeful, little laugh, she attacked. It really was fascinating watching the motherly, bubbly young woman take to the part of crazed acolyte so well.

He watched her charge the nearest three men, planting a foot in the groin of the first and then, using her momentum, she stepped upward (Kakashi winced) and drilled her knee into his jaw. Before she could touch the ground, she kicked off from him and landed both hands on the shoulders of a second man. She used him as a pivot point as she swung around and kicked another square in the face. Her feet touched the ground as the third whirled around to hit her. She caught him by the arm and flung him to the floor and when he made a move to get up she brought her heel down on the back of his head.

Wisely, the remaining two turned tail to run. Sakura picked off the one lagging behind by hefting up the nearest chair and throwing it, downing him at the door just as the other escaped. This was more reflective of her usual tactics, he thought. The fancy maneuvers were certainly _impressive_ and fit the cheerful, pig-tailed nut0job she was playing, but Sakura's style was far more brutally to the point and he found he preferred that.

Despite this, Kakashi applauded as he lifted himself from his chair. "You sit out next round," he told her and before she could protest he called toward the backroom, "Oban, it's clear."

The tattooed man reappeared a moment later, a coil of rope hanging over his shoulder. He paused to survey the damage and then looked to Sakura. "You owe me a chair," he said mildly.

She simply smiled at him. "Well, you just got killed off in-story, so I think that's irrelevant."

"About that," Kakashi cut in, "You and wife have somewhere to go until this is over, right?"

Oban nodded. "The neighbors will put us up," he replied. "Everyone's hoping you'll end this, you know."

"They'll retaliate by tonight, but there's nothing to worry about. We're not dealing with a very skilled force here."

Sakura huffed as she delivered a swift blow to one of the men's ribs as he struggled to his hands and knees. "What I don't get is how they make a living on this," she muttered. "Your village isn't very large, you know."

Oban shrugged as he tossed Kakashi the rope. "We're not far from a trade route," he said. "Still can't pass through Rain without a dozen identifications, so people going to and from Earth or Fire cut through this part of Wind. We're not the only ones they're robbing."

Sakura sighed. "That suggests that there are a lot of them," she muttered. "Quantity over quality."

"Bandit logic," Kakashi agreed with a sigh. "We'll have some exact figures in a few hours."

"Pakkun?"

"And the rest of the pack," he replied. "Sakura, do a quick sweep of the village to make sure that there aren't any other problems. We'll clean up."

* * *

'Fun' to a ninja was generally something very different than what 'fun' was to a civilian.

Sakura charged into the crowd of incoming thugs, drop-kicking the one nearest her and then grabbing him by the arm and throwing him aside. "One!"

Kakashi had been right to predict the retaliation. Then again, Kakashi liked to think that after thirty-odd years of this business, he could predict the consequences of attacking a group of particularly thick criminals. "Three!" he shouted back, kicking one mook back into two others and then pegging all three of them with poisoned senbon.

"Shut up!"

"Five!" he called back, sounding a bit intolerably gleeful and smug.

Sakura snarled and took out three more men in quick succession. "Four! Five! Six!"

Kakashi let out a bark of laugher and roll over the back of one bandit to kick another in the hip before dropping an elbow into the top of the first's head. He darted forward and delivered a sharp blow to the ribs of one man attempting to sit up. "Eight!"

"I call foul on that! Your number eight was already my number four! You can't count him just because you had to hit him again!"

"Ten!"

"Ugh!"

* * *

"You're such a dirty cheater."

Kakashi chuckled as he slid the cloak from his shoulders and onto the floor of their cramped accommodations. "Am I? Or are you a sore loser?"

Sakura poked her head out of the small bathroom to scowl menacingly at him, although the only thing menacing about having a toothbrush in your foamy mouth was… well, nothing at all, really. She ducked out of view again and spat into the sink.

Everything was going rather well. The dogs had found the encampment and after the skirmish tonight their numbers were severely dwindled and they were starting to panic even as their leader planned another assault. Panic was good. Panic was the reaction of inexperienced fighters. It meant men who were more willing to run than die for a cause, which worked out rather neatly for her and Kakashi. After all, it wasn't the various mooks they were after. The leader was the problem. He had found a way to build himself a small army of thieves and he would find a way to do it again if let to run.

They would be leaving for a final assault as soon as one of the dogs returned from their scouting mission. Oban had offered to help, but Kakashi had declined. All Oban had to do was to lay low with his wife and the villagers.

"Sakura?"

She rinsed her mouth and spat into the sink one final time before stepping out of the bathroom. Her kimono hung open, her obi removed in lieu of comfort (however brief) and for access to bruises and scrapes (however minor). "What's up?" she asked.

He looked up at her with the wraps that he had been wearing over his mask (the very thought of all those layers making Sakura feel suffocated) resting loosely around his shoulders like a cowl. "It looked like that one landed a pretty hard blow," he said, his eyes sweeping over her, scrutinizing. "Are you all right?"

Sakura wiggled glowing, green fingers at him. "Of course," she replied. "What about you? Don't lie."

"Just a few small cuts."

She sat down beside him and he offered his arms out to her without a fight. This was as much a ritual as everything else. He knew better than to argue, than to say that they were small and a mere trifle because she'd find all the scrapes and bruises eventually.

"I think we're doing pretty well," she murmured as she rubbed his battered knuckles gently with glowing, green thumbs.

"So the thirty men tied up in the basement would indicate," he agreed.

Sakura smiled at him and then reached for his other hand to heal those knuckles as well. "I suggested letting the village children go down there and kick them in the shins, but Oban didn't really approve of the idea."

"I wonder why not."

There was just the faintest bit of humor in his tone that kept her smiling as she released his hand and looked to him. "Where else?" she asked.

"No where."

"Liar."

* * *

There were times when Kakashi thought he liked young, oblivious Sakura better; the Sakura who was too absorbed with her forehead and silly crushes to put to use all of that potential. This was one of those times.

In fact, any time that she correctly called him on a lie was one of those times.

"Kakashi."

He rolled his eyes away. "It's nothing."

Sakura frowned at him and then the furrow of her brows deepened a little more and she reached out a hand to thumb his cheek. "Ooh," she murmured, her thumb catching the bloody slit in the fabric of his mask. "Close shave."

He laughed despite himself and gave her a look because that was a horrible pun and her returning smile seemed to indicate she knew it. "It's nothing serious," he said, shifting. "It'll heal by itself. You're wasting chakra."

They had known each other for seven years. They were teammates. She knew him better than possibly anyone ever had (whether she knew _that_ or not) and he knew that she had shown him facets of her life, of _herself_, that she never shared with anyone else. What more, he trusted her with everything; with his secrets, with his Sharingan, with his life…

His reasons why certainly outnumbered his reasons why not.

But his mask was his last barrier. Without it, he wasn't sure what would happen because he could feel his heels drawing close to a ledge. A ledge, he had been trying to convince himself, that was nothing more than a crack in a sidewalk. After all, working in close proximity to someone—spending so much time with them—could confuse you and make you think you felt things that you didn't really feel. Even if you had spent _years_ in close proximity to that someone without such an occurrence… it was still possible… maybe.

Sakura stared at him for a long time before heaving a sigh. "Fine," she said. "Take off your mask. I won't look."

He frowned when she closed her eyes. "Sakura, it really isn't serious."

"Kakashi, you know what drives me crazy? Scars. I can tell by the size of the damp spot on your mask that that's a pretty deep cut and at your age it'll probably scar."

Well, that made sense. Sakura might not have been easy to sum up in a single word (_compassionate but temperamental, gentle yet brutal_), but her habits could _only_ be described as meticulous. From the way she tended to her nails to her performance as a medic, everything had to be done just so and it _had to be done_. A sloppy job in her eyes was one that might as well have not been done at all.

Scars were sloppy.

He sighed and eyed her skeptically for a few moments longer. He made a few offensive hand signs at her, but she didn't respond. He reached out a hand to flick her ear, but she didn't react until he actually did so and then she only reached out to slap him away, but missed terribly.

"C'mon, Kakashi. Quit screwing around. Just let me heal the cut before the pack comes back or it's going to drive me nuts."

Kakashi took his breath. He trusted her. He supposed if she broke that trust then that was one more barrier, however feeble. Sighing to himself, he reached up and hesitantly pulled his mask down.

Sakura didn't have a poker face. If she could actually see him, she wouldn't have been able to contain her reaction. And she didn't react. She didn't even seem to know that the great unveiling had already happened and she even jumped when he took one of her hands and drew it to his cheek, where the cut was still bleeding.

"You didn't shave."

He smiled a little. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it _should_ have been that. "Someone has a habit of hogging the bathroom."

"Typical man, making typical sexist man remark, blah, blah, blah."

Kakashi smiled a little wider and she suddenly smiled in return. "What? Peeking?"

"You couldn't see it, but I just rolled my eyes at you. No, I was just… it's just kind of weird _feeling_ you smile."

He smiled a little wider for effect and so did she.

It only took a minute or so for the cut to completely seal, the skin new and pink and absolutely _not_ going to be a scar. But she didn't pull her hand away.

And Kakashi wasn't about to make her. He was too busy watching Sakura's brow furrow together as she ran the blade of her thumb gently over his stubbled cheek. She grew a little braver, her fingers moving to trace the contour of his jaw—smiling as she did so, obviously finding something pleasing about this—and then up to the bridge of his nose and then down again.

Kakashi swallowed when her fingertips gently, innocently touched his lips and something inside of him trembled. By the grace of gloves and lotion and probably all of that medical jutsu, her fingers were smooth. He clenched his jaw a little when her thumb gently glided over his bottom lip; curious and still innocent. He took a breath he hadn't noticed he was holding. It had been _so_ long since he had felt something so intimate. In fact, he wondered if he had _ever_ felt anything so intimate…

"No fish lips," she whispered with a trace of humor but he couldn't' help but wonder if it was just him or if she really did sound breathless.

"No fish lips," he agreed.

And she wasn't looking. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut as if to fight temptation, yes, but she wasn't looking, just like she had promised. She accepted his (_stupid, silly, needless_) condition. She accepted it and him and who he was and… and that ledge suddenly slipped out from under him.

The damn butterflies were back, a whole swarm of them doing horrible things to him as his heart jumped into his throat and he felt like a thirteen-year-old boy again. Or, rather, for the first time.

This was Haruno Sakura. She was young and she had once been his student. She was his teammate and comrade. She was not, not, _not_ someone he should feel this way for… but if not her, who else? He couldn't imagine. _She_ was skilled and wise beyond her years with a grasp on reality and life much tighter than many women her age, but still she was beautiful and feminine and so full of life and compassion. Most importantly, she _knew_ him and yet she still accepted him as he was. Not without some mild exasperation, but still her acceptance was complete. Whole.

It might have been wrong—he couldn't be sure anymore in that moment—but he knew that he was falling anyway.

A small pop broke the silence with the same force of a thunderclap and Sakura's eyes shot open, wide and startled as she snatched her hand back. Kakashi already had his mask in place to hide the flush of his cheeks that neatly mirrored hers. They stared at one another for a moment and looked to Pakkun standing beside the bed. He had one eyebrow lifted as his droopy, brown eyes slid from his master to the girl to his master again.

"Yo," he greeted.

"Report," Kakashi ordered as Sakura stumbled off of the bed and over to the bathroom door to retrieve her obi.

"They're moving," the Pug said. "They started packing up camp about twenty minutes ago. They won't even be half-finished if you leave now. There's only about thirty of 'em left and the boss? He ain't a fighter."

"Well, that should make things disappointly easy." Sakura's voice was full of playful bravado as she folded her kimono and began to loop the belt around her middle. Kakashi wanted to think he still saw some pink in her cheeks. "I'll be ready in a second."

"Same here," he murmured.

* * *

1. Well, as always much love to my readers.

2. Except, not like always, I don't have a lot to say. I feel like this chapter didn't really accomplish anything.

3. No progress whatsoever.

4. ... So, my sister's about three months along now and I can't wait to find out the gender of the baby.

5. ...

6. Hold me close and hold me fast. The magic spells you cast; _this _is la vie en rose. When you kiss me heaven sighs and though I close my eyes, I see la vie en rose...

7. Next chapter I'll have a larger fight scene (if I'm up to it) and probably some denial. Hm... for future reference Ibiki will make an appearance alongside Yamato and more Genma. I have the scene all plotted out but it'll be quite a bit later. Yeah, I'm just ruthlessly teasing you with it now.

8. Kakashi's in love! We've made progress! (In direct contradiction to number 3.) It only took nineteen effin chapters. Nineteen more and Sakura should be ready to leap herself (KIDDING). So, future goals? No wangst, no one acting like a hormone-struck teenager, a realistic reaction to these realizations (ooh, alliteration) and... yeah, probably some denial. Oh and back to the whole 'house calls' thing. I think we've deviated from formula long enough.

9. Hm, for a pseudo-rant: I have no preference when it comes to who falls for who first. Here, I'm portraying it as Kakashi because why he'd fall for Sakura is a larger obstacle to tackle because of his past hang-ups and general track record with her. He needs more time to come to the realization. You might see that I put a little emphasis on the fact that he trusts her. I think for Kakashi that would DEFINE his relationships. The scene with Sakura closing her eyes was an idea a friend (Exodia-Girl, she's in my favorites) suggested and I latched onto it because it worked so well with Kakashi coming to his realization. We'll get the aftermath of it next chapter, but I did cut it off here because I didn't want anything taking away from the final scene, so, yes, this chapter is abominably short, but then this is my second update this week.

**(I realize that there wasn't really a shirtless scene as previously promised, but, well, I might have made up for that. Oh and he's supposed to be shirtless in the very first scene so that works, I guess... lol Review Guys!)**


	20. In Which There are Tattoos and Mistakes

**House Calls**

**Chapter 20**

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* * *

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What was that? What _the hell_ was that?

Sakura drilled her fist square into the face of one bandit and then hefted him up and threw him into another, sending them both to the ground in a tangle of flailing limbs and curses. Vindictively she made sure to trample them both as she ran to intercept three more rushing at her with swords.

Her heart was pounding but it had nothing to do with the fight.

She somersaulted over the first two as they brandished the swords and dropped feet-first into the third bringing up the rear, throwing him to the dirt easily with his jaw crunching neatly under her boots. She rolled to the right and as she came up onto her feet she threw one hand shrouded in blue chakra out to catch the blade coming at her from the left. For a moment the bandit stared at her in surprise and it was a moment too long. She pulled forward on the sword, dragging him into her other fist, which sent him hurtling across the field.

What the _fuck_ had happened?

Sakura flipped the sword in her hand around to grip the handle and lifted it to block the next swing coming at her. Kakashi, as if from thin air, appeared and shoulder-checked the man, who staggered but maintained his grip on his sword.

It was rather mechanical, the way she tossed the sword to the Copy-nin, who caught it easily and then pitched forward, allowing her to use his shoulders as a vault to flip over him and into the thugs rushing him from behind as he lunged forward to dispatch the one still-armed opponent.

Sakura couldn't even say that she was thinking about the fight. Sure, whenever pointy things made an appearance, she made sure to be a little more 'there', but until she was facing off against anyone who seemed even _remotely_ trained, the punching and kicking was simply a way of working off the tension that had filled her. For her part, she was off in her own little world. A little world of confusion and rapid heartbeats, a world where sitting on a bed with Kakashi had, for the first time in all her years of knowing him, seemed _strange_.

If Sakura were to be honest with herself—and she most certainly was _not_ going to be—the moment had, in shorthand, turned her on.

Ew, was that even right?

No, definitely not right.

Scratch that thought.

It made her feel _weird_ and that _weirdness_ was not about to be acknowledged in any way or form. Except for every time she thought of how strong his jaw line had been and how soft his lips had felt and the fact that he had _dimples_. Hatake Kakashi had dimples and from then on every time he crinkled his eyes at her she'd remember them…

And how his skin felt under her fingertips…

How _really_ smooth his lips—

Sakura snarled and drilled a fist into the nearest deserving party's face with exceptionally wrathful zeal.

She closed her eyes tightly for a minute to gather herself, shoving all of the thoughts away to be dealt with _later_, and then opened them with a heavy sigh. Bodies were strewn around the campsite; mostly living bodies; some groaning or twitching or just out cold but _down_ and staying down. A few dozen yards away she saw Kakashi walking toward her, dragging one man by the leg.

"That our guy?" she called.

"Yep." Kakashi drew closer and Sakura crouched down to inspect the man's injuries. "He looks a little familiar. I'll have to look through the bingo book later."

Sakura frowned. "You think this guy is in there?" she asked, frowning in disbelief. The man had to be in his late forties, paunchy all over with a face that made her wonder how many times his nose had been broken in his life. "They'll put anyone in there nowadays, huh?"

"Hey, he'll buy dinner, won't he?"

"Hm, good point."

* * *

"Pretty cool."

Sakura glanced up. "Hm?" They were seated together in their room again, on the same bed they had been earlier that night, going through the same routine of tending cuts and bruises. She took comfort in the familiarity and the easiness of it. It did a lot to soothe her anxiety.

Kakashi nodded to a large scrape on her knee, which was slowly stitching itself back together, the skin glowing with healing chakra even as she pumped the same into his freshly battered hands. "That."

"Oh, yeah."

Threats neutralized. Kimono and wraps once more forgotten. Village safe.

She should have felt more relief that she did. The anxiety and tension should have waned with the threats neutralized and a decent fight under her belt. But it was still nagging at her and she was slowly and uncomfortably coming to accept the fact that the mission was no longer to blame for all of her extra, nervous energy. It was Kakashi.

Sakura did her best not to react outwardly, but she could feel her lips purse regardless. It didn't even make any sense. What had happened wasn't earth-shaking by any means. Well, _okay_ it definitely wasn't an everyday thing that Kakashi made how much he really trusted her clear. It wasn't everyday that she sat and touched him just to touch him. It wasn't everyday that…

Okay, "turned on" _still_ wasn't the right phrase. There hadn't been anything sexual about what had happened, but it had struck on some deep-dwelling nerve, something base and primal. Touching someone didn't always have an emotional meaning. Brushing against strangers in a crowd didn't _mean_ anything. Running headlong into someone didn't always mean anything (other than the fact that you were a klutz). Hell, even _punching_ someone didn't always have to mean something.

But to simply touch someone's _face_? That was something completely different.

And touching _Hatake Kakashi's…_?

Sakura took a breath. Kakashi, she told herself firmly. It was _Kakashi_. Her friend, her team leader, her mentor—okay, maybe not mentor, but friend and team leader for _sure_ and those were all the details that mattered. Why was she letting something like this freak her out?

"Thanks."

She pulled her hands back to herself and he slid easily off of the bed, combing a hand through his hair as he crossed silently to the little bathroom. The door shut and Sakura let herself fall into the bed.

They were close, she reasoned. This was just like the whole bathroom thing. She felt okay showering and dressing with him wandering in and out of the same bathroom because they were teammates and she trusted him. That wasn't a boundary that existed anymore and now his mask had gone the same way. She may not have seen his face, but to touch it, to know the he had trusted her to keep her promise, to know definitively that he didn't have fish lips or any other hideous deformities had been a shift in their established paradigm. One more boundary, one more mystery gone. Nothing more.

It was rather anticlimactic to think of it that way. She frowned at the ceiling. All of those years of waiting to unmask the Copy-nin and… well, it wasn't that she'd turn down the opportunity to _see_ him, but she couldn't honestly say she would fight him for it anymore.

"Scoot."

Sakura glanced at Kakashi as he reappeared beside the bed and then slid closer to the wall the mattress was pressed again, slipping her legs under the covers as she did so. She rolled over onto her side, so that her back faced him as he slid in beside her.

"We did well today," he said, conversationally.

We. Not her specifically, like he was throwing her a bone by patting her on the head. Them. As a team. She smiled. "Yes. We did."

There was a pause and her smile began to fade. It _felt_ like he had something more to say, something more he _wanted_ to say, but it was stuck and hanging in the air over them like a weight. "Good night, Sakura."

That wasn't it, but there was no use in pressing for a reply. "Good night, Kakashi."

* * *

Gaara raised one, hairless eyebrow as he read over the report. He lifted his eyes to Sakura briefly and then looked back down to the papers, which he held tipped slightly to the right to allow Naruto to read over his shoulder.

It wasn't long before the blond started to laugh and a moment later he rounded the desk and gave Sakura a high-five.

"You and Kakashi-sensei suck," he said jovially.

"Remember that when you're Hokage and handing out missions," she replied with an equally bright smile. "What have you been up to?"

Naruto sighed, looking to the ceiling as if pleading to the gods for some kind of relief. "All the boring stuff: writing letters, reading papers, meetings."

Sakura grinned and leaned around him to look at Gaara, who was reading through the mission report. "So, how doomed _does_ Konoha look?"

Her teammate knocked a fist gently against her shoulder in protest as just the faintest trace of amusement curved one corner of the Kazekage's lips. "Provided he is never actually allowed to do any of the paperwork himself, Konoha should be fine."

It was said with all seriousness, but Sakura laughed anyway as Naruto grinned sheepishly. "I wonder if Shizune will still be available then?" he asked.

* * *

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura was busily throwing open every window of her house and breathing in the wonderful, early summer air. She loved Konoha. She loved everything about Konoha. She just happened to love it even _more_ after returning from Suna. "What's up, Sai?" she asked as she pushed open the last windows in her living room and then paused to bask in the cross breeze blowing through the small house.

They had stayed in Suna another week after the mission—another week of consulting with Suna's head doctors and reviewing techniques and discussing research, with only time away in the lab fiddling with one of Kankuro's new poisons to break the monotony.

Sakura took a breath.

She. _Loved._ Konoha. Loved the sun that wasn't trying to peal her skin off, loved the wind that wasn't accompanied by a face-full of sand, loved the flowers and the trees; ah, Suna certainly provided a bit of perspective. Fate was even kind enough to _not_ throw a dozen wounded at her the same night of her return.

"I understand that Temari-san was perturbed with Kankuro-san after she was informed about the alterations made to his arm."

Sakura frowned and rounded on the artist. He was seated on her couch, cross-legged with his sketchpad in his lap, and his brush twirling deftly between his fingers (a sign, she had learned long ago, of anxiety). "Yes, she was," she replied slowly. _Perturbed_ wasn't the right word, but he seemed to be trying to make some other kind of point so she wouldn't quibble about that kind of thing. "You don't understand why?"

"I understand that, as his sister, she saw some betrayal in the action?"

"Well, not betrayal," she said, moving to sit beside him. "She was worried and scared. It… it's self-destructive and there's kind of an ugly history to it."

"He was being pragmatic."

Of course Sai would see it that way. Sakura sighed. "It's not about that. What's wrong, Sai? Why are we talking about this?"

He frowned a little, his gaze burning a hole into the top of her coffee table. "I would like to show you something," he began slowly, his lips pursed in thought, "But I do not want you to be angry like Temari-san was angry."

"Did you let Kankuro cut off one of your arms while I was away on that mission?"

"No."

"Then I think we'll be fine." Besides, it wouldn't have been Sai she'd have been angry with and _angry_ wouldn't have been the right word. "Show me?"

He glanced to her and then turned away. She frowned as he reached under the hem of his shirt and pulled it up over his head. (Ino was positively jealous of the number of men who so readily did this in front of Sakura.)

A moment to let it register and then Sakura blinked. "Wow."

"I would like you to know that I have been considering it for several months and the time spent on night patrols allowed me to discuss the method at length with Kankuro-san."

"Did he help you?"

"He was the most logical choice."

"Yes, I suppose he would be."

"You are not angry?"

Not really, no. She was… well, Sai had never struck her much as a tattoo person.

He had four now.

Talk about diving in headfirst.

Sakura lifted a finger to trace the pair of rats painted on his left, upper-arm, their lean, dark bodies posed as if one were crawling up his shoulder and the other crawling down. The skin felt slightly raised where the ink lie and now officially intrigued, her finger moved slowly across his back to the outline of a large bird drawn with its wings spread wide across the expanse of his trapezius muscles with its head resting near the base of his neck. He turned slightly, to allow her access to his right wrist, which was encircled by a slender, black dragon, its head positioned just at the base of his hand.

She pulled her hand away and he turned to face her completely. "I'm guessing they can be animated?"

Sai nodded and reached his left hand out to her. She watched, fascinated, as one of the rats came to life. Its tail flicked and then it was scampering down his arm, taking on mass as it went before jumping from his hand into hers, as solid and real as any of his creations. Cautiously, she stroked the top of its head as it sniffed her, whiskers and nose quivering as it did so.

He watched her carefully. "In an emergency, if I would run out of ink or otherwise become incapable of summoning, I thought it would be prudent to have a backup plan."

"You haven't had those problems in the past."

"Now I never will," he replied matter-of-factly. "These will not be as easily dispelled as my other creations and they require minimal chakra to summon."

Sakura let her fingers stroke down the rat's spine and then held it out to Sai. She was just as fascinated as it scampered back up his arm and sank into his skin beside the other rat. "That's really impressive, Sai," she said finally. "Kankuro did a good job."

"He was only required to trace the outlines I provided with the correct ink," he muttered with just a hint of offense taken.

Artists. They were all the same. "How did you get it into the skin? I assume you didn't use needles." (Translation: "You _better_ not have used needles. Were they sanitary? Did you even check? You can't trust Kankuro with that kind of thing!")

"No needles. Just a brush. The chakra blended with the ink allowed it to burn into the skin."

Sakura cringed. That explained the raised skin. "Did that hurt?"

"The pain was minimal."

She examined his forearm and shoulder again and then sat back, frowning. No doubt she knew Sai better than just about anyone, but that didn't mean he couldn't still confuse the hell out of her. "Why are you showing me?"

He stared owlishly. "Customarily friends do not keep secrets from friends… and I suppose I am seeking your approval before I experiment any further with this medium."

Sakura wasn't sure whether to feel touched at his concern or horrible at the fact that he felt like he needed her permission. She sighed. "Sai, it's really not my call. I can't get mad at you for this kind of thing, you know? It's your life and your skin. Temari was angry with Kankuro because what he did was extreme and… yeah, kind of psychotic. Tattoos aren't the same thing."

More staring and then a firm nod. "Noted. However, I was simply seeking your opinion on the matter because I value it."

Did it really count when he said sweet things without even realizing it?

* * *

"Medic Mode" as her friends had taken to calling it, wasn't just the persona Sakura took on to wrangle pussy-footing nurses or troublemaking patients (or, say, bossy and self-entitled ANBU agents).

It was a defense mechanism; a page ripped directly out of Tsunade's book the first time she had watched the woman storm into a blood-soaked ER and restore order to the chaos without so much as flinching. _"You're a medic. When you're working, people are dying, and they could be your teammates, your friends. You can't let that sink in. If you hesitate, even for a second, someone could die. Do your job first. Worry later."_

But, for as much as the boys liked to tease her, Sakura hadn't perfected it by any means. Every once in a while, awareness would creep in through the seams of the icy façade and the cold hand of panic would seize her heart as she realized that she was pushing someone's internal organs back into their body. Sometimes, if her ears caught the stray wail of a fear-stricken teammate watching her piece their best friend back together, she could hear her own voice screaming for Naruto and Sasuke, crying out in terror.

"Shin!"

Sakura barely knew the Jonin, although she had seen him around the tower and knew him to be one of Ino's many blue-eyed, blond-haired cousins. His team was fresh from the Academy, no one she knew. Genin. _Years_ younger than her and Naruto; the only people that could make her feel old.

"Quiet, Yue."

The voice was familiar but his name still escaped her. They had talked before, at length about _something_, but Sakura couldn't think on it properly with the blood dripping from her gloved fingertips. He had both hands clenched onto the shoulders of the young girl in front of him, who was crying openly with fat tears rolling down her cheeks and her teeth clamped down so hard upon her lips Sakura wondered if she'd be healing that next.

"Stand outside, with her," the Yamanaka told the other boy, who was pale, but stony-faced.

He nodded obediently and then he and the girl were gone an instant later. Sakura paid them no more mind than that.

"Can I help?"

Could he put back together a damaged liver? "Just stay close."

Shin. He was young. Reminded her a little of Naruto with the gold-blond hair. Had a pretty face marred by blood dribbling from his mouth down his chin. His fingers jerked spasmodically and his eyes were squeezed tightly shut in pain, but he was yet to make a sound—a good shinobi. Got hurt protecting his friends on a mission gone wrong—a good man.

"I can sedate him."

Yamanaka. Right. "Do it."

It took a lot of effort, a lot of chakra, but the boy was soon out of danger. Sakura removed her bloody, latex gloves before stepping out into the kitchen to check over the other two. Her heart lurched in a painfully sweet way when she offered to put them up for the night and they refused, determined to go with their teacher as he took their teammate to the hospital.

It rubbed some balm on her aching heart, taking a tiny bit of the sting out. She never walked away from this sort of thing feeling _good_, but it was never the same no matter how many times she told herself that Genin were as much soldiers as any other ninja.

* * *

"Thanks for doing this, Sakura."

"It's never a problem, Shika."

"Ino was supposed to help me, but some family thing came up last minute and Chouji went with her. Team Eight is out and I… well, I never know what to do with her on my own."

"You're fine, now quit talking and make your move, Nara."

Shikamaru grinned lopsidedly. "See, that's why you're losing, Haruno."

Sakura opened her mouth to reply but was abruptly cut off by a cry of: "_Hand of Fate_!"

Asuka who had been, up until this point, sitting in the medic's lap and quietly minding her own business, suddenly and quickly brought her hand down onto the shogi board with enough force to send little black and white tiles raining down onto the living room floor. It wasn't appropriate behavior, but then again the rain consisted mostly of Shikamaru's tiles and, honestly, Sakura couldn't see what difference her (remaining) tiles being on or off the board would have made for her chances of winning so she laughed. A muscle began to tic somewhere above Shikamaru's right eyebrow and Asuka grinned all the wider.

"I told you not to do that," he said with surprising patience.

Asuka pumped a fist defiantly into the air. "You cannot control the kamikaze!"

"I'm going to _kill_ whoever taught her that," Shikamaru muttered with his face pressed into his palm. He lifted one eye to glare at Sakura. "Stop laughing! You're as bad as Kiba."

The medic promptly buried her face in Asuka's dark curls to hide her smile as the little girl giggled.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and got to his feet. "I'm going to step outside for a sec. Set up the board for another game."

"_No!_ Sakura-san, tell him he can't!" the little girl whined, bouncing irritably in place and pointing an accusing finger at Shikamaru. "You're gonna smoke and you're gonna make yourself sick!"

The boy blinked once and then began to scowl. He looked to Sakura and raised an eyebrow in question, accusing. In reply, she simply mimicked the look. He huffed irritably and jerked his head toward the front door. The medic sighed and lifted Asuka out of her lap as she got to her feet, sitting her gently on the floor in front of the game table. "Pick up the pieces for us, okay Kamikaze?" she asked, crouching over the girl with her hands on her shoulders.

Asuka nodded and Sakura led the way out the door onto her small porch. "What?" she asked, her hands on her hips as Shikamaru pulled the door shut behind him.

"Stop telling her that stuff," he said plainly.

It was nice that even when he was miffed, Shikamaru didn't get angry. He was always rational, always calm; easily better than ninety percent of her patients. "I didn't. You can thank Ino for that."

"You don't help anything. We've not thirteen anymore and as we all know, I'm not an idiot."

Sakura crossed her arms firmly over her chest, assuming the position for a lecture if need be. "That would be debatable," she replied. "Shika, may the Hokages help us, but we care about you. We wouldn't bother to say anything if we didn't because you're such a stubborn ass that it wouldn't be worth the trouble. Cut _us_ some slack."

He eyed her for a moment but he wasn't fooling her with the way the one corner of his mouth jerked upward. "Still, you're just scaring her," he replied.

"Hey, we're not the ones she thinks will die of some horrible disease." Sakura gave him a pointed look as his eyes narrowed again. "See? It _does_ affect more people than just you." She paused again, to give this a second to sink in and then stepped forward, maneuvering around him to get through the door, asking over her shoulder, "So, when is Kurenai due back?"

"A week, I think. Asuka's aunt and uncle are coming back from their missions tomorrow, so she'll be with them then."

"You only had to entertain her for one day and you came here?"

He huffed. "I told you. I'm not good at this stuff. I never had any siblings. I haven't even figured out what to feed her for lunch. She doesn't seem to like anything."

Sakura laughed. "I'll show you a trick I learned in the hospital. I promise, I'll have her eating _spinach_ by the end of the day out of her own free will."

"Can you perform a few other miracles while you're at it? I can make a list," he scoffed, reaching over to open the front door for her again, cigarettes neatly forgotten (if only for the moment).

She smiled and led the way back inside. "So, you're telling me that Ino has to hold your hand through this babysitting thing all the time? Lucky her. Where is she again? A family thing?"

Shikamaru nodded, following her and sulking just ever so slightly. "Yeah. She was helping arrange flowers for some funeral. One of her cousins was heading up a Genin team that got in over their heads on some mission in Lightning and one of his students got killed."

* * *

There were only three times in Sakura's memory that she could recall Tsunade ever hugging her. The first time was just after she had lost her first patient, a sweet elderly, civilian man she had taken to having her lunch breaks with during his hospital stay. It hadn't been unexpected or bloody or even sudden. It was just her first defeat as a medic; her first and, as Tsunade had pointed out, not likely her last.

The second was just after her promotion to Jonin. It is a different sort of fear to walk into the Hokage's office under Tsunade's reign and come upon the woman herself smiling from ear-to-ear—while presumably sober and still the worst gambler in Konoha.

The last time was the day that she and Naruto returned to Konoha with Sasuke's body; Team Seven reunited for the first time in _years_. Sakura had felt numb for days, caught with Naruto in a dreamlike state. Defeat was a bitter pill to swallow that never lost its sting and acceptance was still on the horizon. The hug had been one between friends, between teacher and student, and between two people who understood each other all too well in that moment.

That bitter taste clung to the back of Sakura's tongue as she pored over the hospital's report, her arms clenched tightly around her middle. Tsunade was on her right, poised on the corner of her desk and watching. It was some time before the woman spoke. "There's nothing you could have done for him," she said.

Arai Shin had been twelve. He was the first ninja of a civilian family, specialized in ninjutsu, and was slated to be Chuunin before the end of the year.

And killed by poison.

"You dealt with the most apparent and life-threatening problem," Tsunade said calmly. "That's all you could do, Sakura."

She knew that. Deep down, she knew everything that Tsunade was going to tell her. How could she have known he was poisoned if his teammates hadn't even seen it happen? The odds were against her having the correct antidote on hand anyway and there was no guaranteeing it would have even worked. It had been hours since the poison had been introduced into his system. Even if they had been able to reverse it, the damage would have likely already been done.

"Sakura. You couldn't fight what you couldn't see."

It just didn't help. It didn't ease the weight off of her chest or make any of it easier to swallow.

Tsunade moved to stand beside her student and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing and letting Sakura lean into her. It wasn't a hug. Not really anyway. But it did what it could, conveying comfort and a sense of understanding, acknowledging that regret at not being able to do more and quietly assuring her that she had done what she could. With luck, it would be different next time.

* * *

Kakashi made it a point to seem disinterested in everyone and everything around him as a sort of defense against being sucked in. After all, he had his team. They were the only people whose lives directly interested and affected him, so logically their names were the only ones that caught his attention when he was out and around.

To a degree he envied Sai's anonymity. He was rarely ever mentioned outside of: "That guy? His name's Sai. No, that's his only name. He used to be in ANBU; works with the Copy-nin and his team now. Hm, no… nobody is quite sure what his deal is."

As for Naruto, well, the boy had always been _known_, just never based on his merits. In his days as a Genin, anyone speaking his name had often underlined it with derisive scoffs—which were amusingly cut short whenever the speakers caught sight of Kakashi nearby. Now, when anyone spoke of the boy it was out of much deserved respect and admiration.

When it came to Sakura, the bag was a good bit more mixed. She was acknowledged for all of her achievements, but was better known for her connections to not just Naruto, but also one ex-ROOT member, the Copy-nin, the Godaime, and most of the village's Jonin. But she was never talked about. She was never the center of recent controversy and it had long ago become taboo to gossip about her and the Uchiha boy. (The taboo had been established around the same time a group of nurses had been found clucking in the hospital break room after having been overheard doing so. The Yamanaka clan denied responsibility.)

It was for this reason that it was always particularly interesting when he did hear her name mentioned outside of the context of the hospital or her little clinic.

"I just heard what happened. I'm so sorry, Sadao-kun."

"Thank you. He was a good boy."

"There wasn't anything the medics could do?"

"Haruno-san tended him first. She had no way of knowing about the poison and by time we reached the hospital, it had progressed too far."

"Was he in pain when he passed?"

Kakashi didn't stick around to hear the answer. One instant, he was passing the pair—a Yamanaka and a Tokujo he didn't recognize—and the next he had disappeared.

* * *

There weren't any lights on when Kakashi stepped inside, frowning at the unusual stillness in the house. This time of day was usually the busiest, with people in and out for the post-mission check-ups and pre-mission supplies. He paused in the kitchen doorway when he found Sakura sitting at the table, her chin resting on her folded arms, and her eyes boring a hole into the opposing wall.

He stepped closer and took up the seat opposite of her to place himself in her line of sight. Her eyes immediately lowered.

"Sakura…"

He trailed off, not knowing where to begin. Whatever bravado Sakura could muster was usually frail, at best. She had confidence in her abilities, but it was even at the best of times brittle and easily shaken. It was a pathos she might never fully overcome.

"Tsunade-sama put me on leave for two weeks," she murmured. "She's worried that I'm working too hard."

He nodded slowly. "It… may be for the best."

She said nothing and for some while silence reigned in the little kitchen. Kakashi had never before felt so compelled to touch anyone, to hold them, as he did then. He wasn't one to initiate closeness. It was fine if Sakura took his arm or even, like she had at the festival, hugged him, but both of those instances had been _her_. He wasn't even quite sure how to go about it.

Especially not now.

He had been avoiding her. He couldn't deny that, although he refused to think of it as cowardice. Years of combat experience had granted him with the foresight required to know when to retreat before it was too late. He had intended to keep it up, too. The only reason he had gone to the Hokage Tower, after all, was to the check in at the missions desk to see what sort of assignments that would require time away were available. But he hadn't even gotten that far.

Because Sakura had lost a patient.

It had been _months_ since he could remember her losing a patient and now there was this and no doubt she saw it as her fault.

"I saw your shogi board out."

"Shikamaru was here this morning with Asuka."

"Are you up for a game?"

"I don't think so."

He knew that he couldn't get away now, even if he wanted to.

More silence. Then, Sakura lifted her eyes to the ceiling and then down again and away. "I shouldn't have been so quick to let them leave," she whispered. "It's part of triage protocol, you know. I just… I fell apart."

"I doubt it," he argued, his voice low.

She didn't look at him. "I had to keep telling myself not think about how young he was, but it kept distracting me. I messed up."

"You're not being rational about this, Sakura. You can't be expected to just _know_ when someone's been poisoned." He stared at her, willing her to look at him. "As for falling apart… you were not made of stone, the last I knew."

Sakura didn't react at first, but after a pause she closed her eyes and let her head sink onto the table, her breathing coming out slow and even as her right cheek pressed into the wood. "I hate this part," she whispered.

Kakashi sighed and reached out across the tabletop with one hand to cover hers.

He'd worry about escaping this later.

* * *

1. I SO love you guys. Also, shoutout to the Kakashi X Sakura fanclub at the Naruto Forums. Thanks Amrun for the rec.

2. Relient K had a song about mood swings. I think it'd fit this chapter. I hope no one got whiplash.

3. I figured that Sakura could hone her control to the point that she could focus chakra directly into the wound rather than needing her hands to heal herself. Honestly, it'd be practical. Also, I know the fight in the beginning was short but... yeah... that's pretty much it. I know it's short.

4. All right, I like experimenting with everyone's powers and I liked the idea of giving Sai tattoos he could animate. I know that it's probably not a super original idea, but I had the thought and had to run with it. Also, he doesn't wear a half-shirt in this 'verse because my Sai isn't gay (he's asexual). Sorry guys.

5. There's some days in between the scene with Sai and the scene with her healing the Genin. The scene with Shikamaru takes place the next morning. ... Not sure why I felt I had to clarify that.

6. Yay, rants! Fladerization pisses me off. For those of you who are uninitiated, in tropes-speak "Flanderization" is the process of narrowing a character down until they're defined by a single trait, which is then horribly exaggerated. You know, like when people turn Kakashi into a horny, super pervert or when people turn Sakura into an unfeeling sociopath or when they feel the need for Sai to make a dick joke every time he talks. The fact that you're writing fanfiction indicates that you like these characters. One would think that you liked them well enough to characterize them beyond just ONE trait.

7. You want to know what else pisses me off? People who ask me why I wear skirts. Now, okay it's a little odd that I wear a skirt everyday and no, it isn't for a religious reason. I just do. Some people wear jeans everyday. I wear skirts. Yes, even in the winter (I have knees of steel, bitches). But seriously, is it so weird that it warrants notice? Even if ti is, there's no need to comment on it! Yes, I'm wearing and skirt and you're wearing pants and with any luck we all have underwear on!

8. This chapter... eh. It kind of got away from me, but it wouldn't have gotten written otherwise because I had NO ideas. I'm building toward something, so there is a method to my madness. It just doesn't look that way. Ever. Also, it might look a little off now, but I promise I'm not going to let Sakura wallow in this. I don't think she could just walk away from it thought. Sakura is emotional-it's one of her defining traits-and you can't take that out of her. Besides, any kind of mistake or anything that SHE could see as a mistake would gnaw on her sense of self-worth.

9. DENIAL! I told you it'd make an appearance.

10. SHIKA! I also promised he would make one too. Also, I love Asuka. I see her being part pretty princess and part Lilo from Lilo and Stitch.

11. For those who didn't get the memo: Part Two of Blithe Spirits is online. Go read. Enjoy.

12. And review.

13. Here and there.

14. Belated Happy Thanksgiving to all of those to whom that means anything and Happy Belated November 25th to everyone else. If there are any critical errors anywhere, let me know. I blame them on me having been awake form 24 hours (yes, I participated in Black Friday).


	21. In Which There are Dogs and Melodrama

**House Calls**

**Chapter 21**

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Note:** Trolls welcome. They're people too.  
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Sakura smiled despite herself when Naruto began to excitedly tell her about his mission to Kumogakure. He was leaving in a day and was just about ready to burst in anticipation. Sakura had some doubts. It was meant to be a 'learning' experience and while Gaara had patiently guided his friend through his daily routine as Kazekage, she really couldn't see the Raikage paying him the same attention. She doubted it would be longer than a few minutes before he punted Naruto out of his office and turned the blond's assignment in Kumo into time spent assing around with Killer Bee.

(Although, it should be know that if the Hachibi-vessel sent her teammate home rapping again, there'd be some serious consequences.)

"I'm sorry I can't go, Naruto," Sakura said, hugging her knees to her chest.

They were seated on the floor together, facing each other over a game of shogi that he had insisted on. He and Sai had arrived not too long after Kakashi and, even though neither of them had mentioned it yet, she knew _why_ they were there.

"Aw, why not?"

"Tsunade-sama's decided I needed a break."

His shoulders slumped a little and he lowered his eyes. "Because of that kid?"

Sakura nodded slowly and let her chin drop to her knees. "Partly. She thinks that I'm taking it too hard, but she's really just looking for an excuse to force me to take a vacation. She's been bugging me about it for a while, actually."

Naruto let out a quiet huff and scowled deeply at the game board, his brows furrowing with consternation. "That ain't fair," he muttered. "She can't punish you for something like that."

She shrugged. "Most people don't see two weeks of leave as punishment," she replied as she reached out to move a piece forward. It was his turn, but he was taking forever and wouldn't notice anyway. Or care.

Naruto moved two pieces forward at once. "I know."

Sakura eyed his gold general. She felt like pointing out that they couldn't move like that, but instead she just swooped forward and took it with her rook. At an angle. While jumping over her knight.

Shikamaru, to whom shogi was almost sacred, would have resorted to the Hand of Fate at about this point out of exasperation.

Naruto leaned back on his hands to examine the board and then, frowning, he tipped his head back to look into the kitchen. "Where'd Kakashi-sensei go?"

"He slipped out a while ago," she replied. "After you and Sai got here." She paused and began to frown as well as she lifted her eyes from the board. "Wait, where is Sai?"

"No idea. I want my other silver general back."

"Why?"

"'Cause I want it."

"Only if I get my bishop back."

Naruto shrugged amiably and they exchanged the requested pieces without any further discussion.

"I'm pretty sure that that's against the rules."

The blond jumped as Sai appeared over his right shoulder, his general dropping out of his hand and clattering to the board. "Holy hell, man!" he laughed. "Wear shoes that squeak or something!"

Sai blinked at him and then tipped his head and smiled before moving to kneel down beside Sakura, who looked to him wearily. "Sakura-chan?" he began.

She raised an eyebrow at his serious expression. "Yes?"

He shifted in place, frowning to himself. "Forgive me. Even though I still have not fully grasped the subtleties of this sort of interaction I would like to say something."

"Oh, _this_ should be good," Naruto said under his breath with an ear-to-ear grin.

Sakura shot him a warning look. "Go ahead, Sai."

The pale boy nodded and then suddenly wrapped his arms around her (the embrace stiff and unsure but sincere). "I am sorry for what has happened and as I am aware that you gauge your self-worth based on your success and usefulness as a medic, you should know that this failure does not in any way reflect on your abilities and I will still allow you to heal me."

Sakura and Naruto shared a look and a second later the blond burst into a fit of laughter as the girl smiled a little, exasperated but touched. "Thank you, Sai," she said, working an arm around neck and ruffling his hair.

The ex-ROOT agent pulled away looking rather genuinely pleased with himself.

The moment was swiftly assassinated by a loud rumble from the direction of Naruto's stomach. He grinned sheepishly. "Lunch?" he proposed, his brows lifted. "I'll cook."

Sakura knew that that meant heating up some instant ramen, but she nodded anyway. She wasn't in the mood to worry about sodium and fat content.

* * *

No matter how vehemently Sakura insisted that he was not old, there was no denying that Kakashi _was_ a veteran. Hell, at nineteen _Sakura_ was a veteran. It had nothing to do with age. Some things just didn't. Experience counted more than anything else in the ninja world and years in the field did a lot of things to ninja. For example, it had been some time since Kakashi had honed the ability to sense danger, which had served him really well over the years.

His first reaction shouldn't have been to run right to Sakura's side. She was not just a grown woman, but an experienced medic and a skilled kunoichi—she was not a stranger to death. Her specialty, being what it was inside an already bloody business, had left her hands a particularly deep shade of crimson. She didn't need him there to tell her it'd be okay when she had bounced back from so much worse on her own.

Dangerous. _This_ was dangerous.

The boundaries of their relationship had expanded over the years; growing to encompass friendship and mutual respect, affection born of years of knowing one another, and a unique sense of understanding that he felt with no one else. He was reclusive, frustrating, and, at times, discourteous (especially to his team), but it didn't seem to bother her much. In turn, he could accept her tendencies to be violent, bull-headed, and demanding.

Their boundaries were flexible but distinct and never in his life before that night in Wind Country had he ever felt the desire to test them. Challenge them. _Cross_ them.

His stomach churned.

"Something wrong? You're taking forever."

Kakashi looked up sharply to Sakura, who was watching him from across the shogi board. The boys had gone some time ago it seemed and in that time she had showered and changed out of one pair of sweats into another. Her hair was damp and tied back, but she looked no worse than she ever did after a rough day of training.

He had slipped out, knowing the boys would distract her, and telling himself that he had overreacted.

Kakashi moved a silver general forward. "I'm fine."

Sakura eyed him suspiciously for a moment before taking it. He got the feeling that she was waiting for retaliation in some form, but it didn't come.

He hadn't _needed_ to come back. But he did. He attempted, at first, to dismiss it as whim, as "checking on our little lady", but he knew himself well enough to know he was lying.

"Do you want something to eat? Naruto made ramen."

Again, her voice dragged him briefly out of his dazed state and he scoffed derisively in reply. Naruto added, of all things, _salt_ when he made ramen. "I hope to the First you didn't _eat_ any of it."

Sakura smiled. "No."

Kakashi nodded and looked back to the board.

He'd leave _soon_, he told himself. He'd leave and go directly to the mission desk and take the first job that would get him out of town for a while. It wasn't well-timed—Sakura having two weeks of leave and Naruto going to Kumo—but he had to get away. It was proximity. It was stagnation. Time away would set things right.

"Soon" came quickly when Kakashi won the game, although he was quick to blame luck. Sakura usually proved to be a good opponent, but she was currently somewhere else, stuck staring blankly into space.

"Sakura?" he beckoned as he pulled on his vest.

"Hm?"

"Are you all right?"

She looked to him and then away again quickly as she nodded, pushing a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. "I'm fine," she said.

He didn't trust the sound of that 'fine'.

As usual, his instincts were right.

* * *

Sakura was angry with herself, with everything that had happened, and maybe a little with reality too (which was completely unreasonable, but damn it she didn't care right now). Had she been too cocky? She had known exactly the number of days since she had lost a patient to injuries sustained on the battlefield (nearly two hundred) and nothing made one careless like consistent triumph.

Kakashi took her rook and one gold general in quick succession.

The same questions kept racing through her mind, even as she desperately tried to fight them off. Would it have made a difference if she had detected the poison? Seconds were vital when dealing with toxins. Worse yet, had she _overlooked_ something? What if she _could_ have seen it but just _didn't_? Medics were _supposed_ to see the big picture, especially when working triage.

It was almost worse to think that it wasn't her fault. If she had done all she could and if the hospital staff had done all _they_ could… didn't that seem arbitrary, at best?

Sakura found herself staring blankly at the board as Kakashi trapped her in checkmate.

She hardly cared.

Twelve-years-old. Why hadn't it seemed that young when _she_ was that age?

Kakashi got up to go and she couldn't help the wave of relief that washed over her. Shizune had once advised her, years ago after a particularly grueling night shift at the hospital, to go home after the worst was over and have a nice, long cry. Take time to mourn, she had said, exorcise all of those feelings, and _then_ get back up. After all, there was no use in trying to stand under all of that extra weight.

"Are you all right?

She snapped to attention, but only for a second before quickly lowering her gaze to her lap, her eyes burning now from some combination of his concern and the fact that she had been putting it off all day. _Damn it_. "I'm fine."

Liar, she thought.

And that was the last straw. She clenched her fists as the tears started. Mortified, she began to quietly berate herself. These weren't those dainty tears she had cried at the festival after hearing about Obito and Rin. They were tears born out of defeat and they came out in shaking sobs that had her shoving the knuckles of one fist into her mouth in an attempt to stop them. They were the tears that just came out all the harder as she grew more and more frustrated.

Damn it! Two more seconds and Kakashi wouldn't have had to see this. She clenched her jaw and silently prayed that he would just go because one indignity on her plate was enough, thank you.

But he didn't leave and she wanted to swear at him when she felt him kneel down beside her. She wanted to _hit_ him when he laid a strong, firm hand on her back and made her cry even harder. She wanted to hit _herself_ when she leaned into him, dampening the shoulder of his vest with tears (and, let's be honest, snot).

"Ninja are supposed to be _good_ liars," he said quietly with mock exasperation.

Sakura laughed, but it came out as an ugly croak. "You're such a jerk."

* * *

Wallowing was allowed just one day and with it out of her system Sakura was determined to keep herself busy for the rest of her leave. However, with Kakashi suddenly off to Kiri on a mission he couldn't elaborate on and Naruto off to Kumo (with Team Ebisu, which was _exactly_ what diplomatic relations needed, she thought sourly), she found herself at a loss for _what_ to do.

She tried relaxing as Tsunade had advised, but to no avail. After all, the point was somewhat defeated when one had to put forth effort at that kind of thing. Sai had gone with Naruto, so he wasn't around for company. Given, he was never one for talking, but he was at least another body around and that counted for something. She couldn't even go in to do paperwork. Tsunade had made it fairly clear that she didn't want to see her anywhere near the tower or the hospital.

It was decided. She'd never get on Kakashi's case about taking leave again.

Sakura sighed as she lay sprawled out in bed, freshly showered, wearing only her underwear and a camisole as she made another go at that 'relaxing' thing. She had woken at six, as she did most mornings, and lay in bed for a half-hour before deciding to shower (mostly out of boredom). Maybe it'd let her relax her. Maybe she'd sleep in until noon for the first time in… _ever_, really.

At seven o'clock exactly, Sakura was ready to throw her alarm clock at a wall just because the cheeky bastard was _there_.

Day three. The boys hadn't even been gone for a full twenty-four hours and she was _bored_ out of her mind.

A soft pop and puff of smoke sent Sakura tumbling heels over head into a crouch, a kunai pulled from beneath her mattress clutched in her fist. Okay, so she wasn't the picture of intimidating while crouched on her sunflower-covered quilt and wearing rose-printed undies, but she was so ready to—

"Oh, hey Pakkun."

The Pug looked vaguely amused as he hopped lightly onto the bed and sat down. "At ease," he said.

Sakura narrowed her eyes at him, but fell gracelessly backwards onto the quilt and crossed her legs in front of her. "What can I do for you?"

His head was cocked to the side as he dug at his ear with one hind foot. "Kakashi doesn't want your training to suffer with him and the other two gone and you on leave," he said. He paused to shake his head vigorously and then lowered his foot again. "Get dressed."

She blinked at him.

Pakkun blinked back at her.

"You're serious?" she asked.

He tipped his head to the side as he shrugged one shoulder. "Well, _I_ don't particularly care if you come in just that, but I've heard it's the kind of thing that can get you sectioned. C'mon, hop to it. The boys are waiting for us and we're burning daylight here."

Sakura eyed him a little harder. She considered picking his furry little butt up and locking him out of her room, but… oh, what the hell. She rolled off of bed and went for her dresser. "How exactly are you going to help me train?" she wondered as she began piling clothes in her arms.

"Hey, there's eight of us and one of you," he replied. "I think we'll manage."

She rolled her eyes. Yeah, she'd just worry about Bull. He had the biggest teeth.

* * *

Or, she'd worry about _all_ of them. Sakura realized that her years of acquaintance with the hounds had her underestimating them. The same dogs that regularly begged for belly rubs and begged for treats were taking their assignment rather seriously at the moment. The fight was quickly devolving into a mess of teeth coming from every direction and she found herself struggling to just keep up.

The hell of the thing was that she felt _bad_ when she retaliated. That wasn't fair!

She lunged to avoid Uhei and Guruko as they came at her from either side and leapt to a branch of an adjacent tree. Without hesitation, she launched herself forward to the next branch and just kept going. The ground wasn't an option with the others still hot on her heels. Bull was down there. Somewhere. He wasn't nearly agile enough to maneuver the treetops like the others could, but he was certainly fast enough to catch her if she gave him the chance. She couldn't afford to face him and the others at the same time.

"Having fun?"

Pakkun was suddenly just overhead, keeping pace with her on a higher tier of branches and looking rather smug. "I'm contemplating adding some fur to my wardrobe," she snapped back irritably. "Oh, and I'm going to kill Kakashi. I hope you don't mind _too_ terribly."

"Quit whining and get your head in the game, Girlie," he replied gruffly, stopping just ahead of her. "You're gonna hurt the boys' feelings if you don't take them serious."

Sakura stopped as well and spared him a narrow look. Fine, she thought as she drew a kunai with an attached tag from her hip pouch. He asked for it.

The Pug grinned at her and then lept away when she threw the blade at him. The tag exploded on impact with the branch, forming a dense, white cloud that swallowed the surrounding treetops.

The medic, with one hand over her mouth, quickly dropped out of branches to the ground and glanced back only when she heard whining and sneezing overhead. She felt bad. Vaguely. But at least she knew now that the pepper tags worked. Now to leg it and hope she could win Bull over with a pretty smile.

* * *

Nope. No such luck.

Sakura stared straight up, focused on the tiny bit of blue sky visible from between the canopy of tree branches overhead. She was flat on her back in the undergrowth, her clothes and hair damp with sweat, and her right boot steadily becoming soaked with drool. Bull had her whole calf in his mouth and though he was careful not to bite down hard enough to hurt her, his grip was firm. There would be no kicking free without some serious damage done to them both.

And damn it all, she was having fun anyway.

She smiled a little to herself. They had been out there for hours. Her limbs felt weak and shaky, her skinned knees and elbows were already in the process of healing, and she'd need another shower when she got home… but she finally, finally was relaxed. Even with a massive dog's jaws clutching one leg.

"We won, we won, we won!"

Sakura turned her head toward Shiba and Guruko as they pranced into the clearing with the others not too far behind.

"All right, let her up, Bull," Pakkun said as he sat down beside the girl.

The big dog opened his mouth and Sakura tentatively pulled her leg free, making a face as drool dripped from her boot. Yeah, that'd need to be hosed off. She sat up and wearily met their expectant stares. "Oh, fine," she huffed, reaching into a different hip pouch. "You each get _one_ treat. That's it. That's all I brought with me."

She tossed them each their respective snacks and then stood, her weight settling in her right boot with a wet and cringe-inducing _spluch_. She stretched her arms upwards tiredly and then took a deep breath as she opened her eyes.

It was such a pretty day. The sky was an incredible blue overhead, the air was warm but the breeze was cool, and the exercise had her blood humming through her veins as her heart raced inside her chest. Her muscles were sore with fatigue, but she felt renewed. Full of energy.

Sakura took a breath.

"We're not done, are we?" Shiba sounded disappointed as he leaned his weight into her legs.

"Well…" The medic scanned the area and then shrugged. "I think there's a lake just a little north of here. I'll race you guys there."

The words were barely out of her mouth before both she and the dogs vanished.

* * *

"So…"

Sakura glanced down at Pakkun as she performed a few stretches in the shade of a tree. Bull was sleeping to her right as the others dogs were busy chasing each other in and out of the water while fighting over a stick they had found in the woods. The Pug was sitting just a few feet away, watching her with his head cocked to the side.

"So what?" she prompted.

"What was up with you and Kakashi? You know, at that inn."

Sakura frowned to herself. She often admired the dogs' straight forward tendencies, but right now not so much. She shifted her hands a little to redistribute her weight. "I don't know what you mean."

"He had his mask down."

She shifted her hands again, finding it hard to balance. "I was healing a cut on his cheek."

"You weren't looking."

"I told him I wouldn't."

"You've been after that for years."

Sakura sighed and let her legs fall back down. She landed with a graceless _oomph _in the grass and then eyed the little dog. "I was respecting his wishes. He wasn't comfortable showing me so I didn't push it. And hey, why am _I_ being interrogated? Kakashi was there too, you know, and you live with him."

Pakkun shrugged. "He's real good at dodging answers. You know that," he said, pausing to shake himself vigorously as he got to his feet. "I was just wondering."

Sakura eyed him as he to it upon him to settle down in her lap. With a glance at the tree behind her, she scooted so her back rested against the trunk before reaching out to scratch the little dog's ears. "Why?" she asked.

"Well… you know Kakashi. He doesn't really let anyone close and you two looked…"

"Close?"

"Yeah. Get my other ear. It's been bugging me all day."

"Hm, you should have Hana look at that. And I was just healing him. Sometimes things get… close." She frowned. That sounded like a euphemism for something now. "I didn't picture you the nosy type, Pak."

He let out a quiet huff that made his jowls billow. "I ain't nosy. I'm just looking out for him. You know, the boys and I were really glad when you started coming around so much." His words were beginning to slur as she began rubbing deep circles into the back of his neck. "We used to worry about him. I mean, I don't like the vet but I know when to swallow my pride, you know?"

Sakura smiled wryly and nodded. "Yeah, I know."

"I think you're good for him anyway," the dog went on. His eyes fell shut slowly and she could feel him melting in her lap. A part of Sakura unashamedly squealed in girlish, animal-loving delight because, sure, he could be a snarky little thing but he was _adorable_. "He's been happier."

"Happier?" she repeated skeptically.

"Yeah. I guess it probably ain't easy to tell."

She frowned a little deeper. "No, not really."

"Well, _he_ wouldn't ever admit to it." Pakkun lifted his head to shake and then lowered it back down to rest on her leg again. "But he is. Besides, it's good for him to have someone _now_. He's always lived with both feet in the past."

Sakura hummed softly and rubbed a little harder, earning a deep sigh from the Pug. "With Rin and Obito, you mean."

If Pakkun was surprised by her speaking those names, he didn't show it. "Them and Minato-sama and his dad." He sighed again. "Thanks, Sakura."

She couldn't tell if he was thanking her for the massage or something else, but she nodded anyway. "No problem."

* * *

"They're yours now or something?"

Sakura rolled her eyes as she dropped a bowl of fresh-cut vegetables into a pan of bowling water. "Don't ask me. They just came home with me and took over the living room. It doesn't matter, though. I figure with the guys bleeding all over the kitchen floor, this house has no hope of ever really being clean anyway."

Ino laughed. She stood in the kitchen doorway, eying the eight hounds sleeping in the living room, their headbands and vests lying near the front door. "I think they're adorable. Although… does that one look a little like Shika to you?"

The medic glanced back at her friend as she stirred the pan of still-frying rice on the stove. "Look a little closer at Bisuke and Guruko. There are some seriously familiar faces in that crowd."

The blonde grinned viciously. "I've always thought it was adorable that Pakkun wears his headband the same way you do."

"Pig, aren't you supposed to be helping me with dinner? That's why you came over, you know."

"No, I came over because you're on leave _for once_ and I was bored. Besides, I think you've got it covered, Forehead." Ino flapped a hand dismissively as she settled down on a three-legged stool sitting at the end of the line of cupboard. She paused for a moment, eyeing her friend critically before looking down to inspect her nails. "I feel like I need to say something."

"You always feel like you need to say something."

The other girl smiled a little, but continued to nervously pick at her fingers. "Are you okay?"

Sakura smiled as she turned around to look at her friend. "I'm fine. How's, um… how's your cousin and his team?"

Ino shrugged. "It was a pretty painful funeral," she murmured. "But they'll bounce back." She twiddled her thumbs for a moment and then hopped off the stool. "Okay, time for a topic change. I'm getting depressed."

"All right. Any new men in your life?"

"Ugh, that's even _more_ depressing." Ino leaned over the cupboard next to the stove, her chin resting on her upturned palm. "Let's talk about _your_ love life. That's more like a tragic comedy."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Between training, missions, working the odd shift at the hospital, taking care of guys here, and managing my three idiots, when do you think I have time for a love life?"

"Who says you can't mix business and pleasure?"

"Tell me you didn't just use that cliché."

Ino snorted. "C'mon, Forehead. There's got to be someone you're interested in. I mean, you've get just about every shinobi in the village traipsing in and out of here at some point or another. Isn't anyone catching your eye?"

"Even if there was I probably wouldn't get a lot of _takers_." Sakura moved to the sink to fill a measuring cup full of water and then turned back to the stove. "Look at my teammates."

"Oh, they wouldn't interfere just because you were _dating_ a guy."

The water hissed as it hit the hot frying pan and covered the rice. "It's not the _dating_ that'd be the problem. It'd be the _breaking up_." Sakura covered the pan and reached over to stir the vegetables.

The blonde frowned, but then gave this a moment's thought and whistled. "_Ooh_ yeah, I see your point."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. I mean, I'd break them in half if they tried anything and _they_ know that, but any guy I'd try to date wouldn't. All they know is that I work with the Copy-nin and the Kyuubi boy. Plus, you know, rare is the guy that likes a girl stronger than him."

"True. Big men, frail egos." Ino looked thoughtfully upwards, her fingers tapping against her chin. "Huh. Well, you're just… well, _not_ screwed, I guess."

* * *

Honestly, Sakura should have known better than to think that just because it didn't come up over dinner the subject was by any means dropped. This _was_ Ino she was dealing with after all.

"All right. Say you _had_ to settle down. Who would it be with?"

Sakura frowned as she eyed her hand of cards. Shiba was watching curiously over her shoulder as she reclined into Bull's bulk, using him backrest as Urushi laid with his head on her thigh. "Nothing says I _have_ to settle down," she argued, picking three cards from her hand and lying them down on the floor. "Give me three."

Pakkun flicked three cards her way from the top of the deck and then looked to Ino expectantly. "How many?"

"I'm thinking," the other girl protested with a pout. Bisuke was lounging sleepily in her lap as Akino watch over her shoulder from where he lay on the couch just behind the blonde girl. She rearranged her cards and looked to Sakura. "I'm just saying. If you really, really wanted to settle down and you wanted, presumably, to settle down with _someone_, who would it be?"

"I'm supposed to just pick someone?"

"No, you're supposed to be really difficult and overanalyze a hypothetical situation," Ino deadpanned in reply. She rolled her eyes. "It's just that whoever you pick sort of speaks to your type. It doesn't mean you want to shack up with _that_ particular person. Give me two, Fido."

Pakkun flicked two cards the blonde's way. "Dealer stands pat," he said, earning a weary look from both girls.

Sakura gave her cards another once over and then reached for her pile of chips and and sweets. She shrugged. "Fine. I'd settle down with Ibiki. I raise you two sticks of strawberry pocky."

"Oh, you would not! I call you."

"Ebisu-senpai, then."

"C'mon, Sakura!"

The medic shared a look with Pakkun who bared his teeth in amusement. "I honestly don't know, Ino," she insisted. "How would you answer that?"

"Easy. It'd either be Shikamaru or Chouji."

Sakura blinked and laid her cards down. She scowled at Pakkun when he flipped his cards over with a flick of his paw and revealed a flush. Well that blew hers and Ino's lowly pairs away. She pushed the pile of snacks over to the Pug. "Why?"

Ino shrugged. "I know them best and they're really, really good guys. Anyone would be lucky to have them."

"Hey, I'm sold. I'll take whoever you don't pick."

The blonde scowled. "I'm not talking to you anymore."

Sakura rolled her eyes again and shifted around a little to get more comfortable as she swept the cards together and began to stack them. "I'm sorry, Ino. I just really don't think about that kind of thing."

"What about your boys? You put up with them in every other respect."

It was cute how all of the dogs tried to pretend that their ears hadn't picked up at that. What gossips! "It's kind of a tough call. You know what I have to work with," she said as she finished shuffling the cards and began dealing them.

"You also spend _almost_ every waking minute with them," Ino replied. "C'mon, it's just me."

Sakura coughed and cast a meaningful look around the circle at the eight other faces watching intently. Well, seven. Bull probably couldn't care less. Noting this, the dogs averted their eyes immediately, trying to look innocent.

"Oh, who are they going to tell?"

The medic sighed as she laid the remaining cards down in front of her. "Well…" she began, trailing off.

Sai was out. Right off the bat, he was out. It wasn't that he wasn't sweet, because he could be terribly so without trying, but he still had _other_ moments that weren't quite so endearing and there was just… _something_ about it that seemed wrong. Maybe she had just spent too much time leading him around by the hand to appreciate him as a man.

Naruto was… well, he was out too even though she hated to think it. Ino had no problem making a fuss over how handsome he had gotten over the years, but for Sakura's part there was no seeing him as anything other than her best friend. He was the guy she still occasionally chased out of the women's onsen and tossed through the air when she got angry with him. Besides, whether he was Konoha's Golden Boy or not, that spark of attraction just wasn't there and, as far as she could tell, it probably never would be.

And Kakashi just wasn't really an option, was he?

"Well?" Ino prompted impatiently.

Kakashi was… she snorted at the thought of him being her teacher. Yeah, she called him sensei out of respect and she supposed that she was still learning from him in some regards but if she were _really_ honest the man was her teacher in the same way that oranges were rocks. Sure, they were sort of _shaped_ the same, but they were hardly the same thing.

"I'm thinking. I told you already; I don't have a lot to work with."

Though, maybe they had a connection she didn't have with Naruto. She understood his dry sense of humor and the man was incredibly tolerant of her on her worst days. Not to mention, they worked rather seamlessly together. Team Seven, as a whole, was a well-oiled machine, but she and Kakashi never had to make an _effort_ to understand each other. It was instinctive.

But that spark wasn't…

Sakura's heart slammed into her ribcage in alarm as her thoughts took a sudden, disturbing turn. Because there _was_ a spark. It was there that night in Suna when he had blocked that kick and then ran his thumb over the jut of her ankle bone, shooting her whole body into warm confusion and chaos without even meaning to. It was there that night in that village when she touched his lips and then shivered at how warm his breath was against her fingertips.

"Naruto," she said evenly, shrugging one shoulder. "I've known him longest."

Ino's shoulders slumped a little. "Well, that was anti-climatic."

* * *

1. (Violin chords, smoke, sparkles, spontaneous rainbows) I'M BACK! AND I STILL LOVE YOU!

2. After a whole two weeks. Sorry about that. I don't really have a good excuse for the lag except that things caught up with me. Keep in mind, guys, that if I ever lag behind with updates, not to worry. If, for any reason, I ever stop updating, I will leave a message after the beep. Unless, of course, I die in a fiery car crash or something.

3. Oh, but good news. My absence has led to an excess of rant! Or maybe that isn't good news.

4. ABLRHGHEIGHELAOFFGHELDLFO! (Yeah, underline it with your squiggly, red mark. I DON'T CARE!) (...) I seriously just forgot what I wanted to-OH! I remember now! Okay, just a quick preface: I'm not calling anyone out with this. It's something that I've discussed before with Exodia-girl and I felt the need to address it. With a good bit of humor. And melodrama. Stay with me.

This story is not serious. You all may have determined that by now what with twenty-one chapters having gone by and nothing happening, but I didn't start this intending it to be serious. I didn't even start this intending it to be what it is and the response to it has totally _floored_ me. When I decided to roll with it and see where it took me, I decided after a few chapters that in lieu of some drama-heavy plot, I wanted to write a real romance. Something steeped in feeling rather than sexual tension. So, to make up for lost "realism" I give you a condensed version of what this story COULD have been! (More violins, more sparkles-no! I mean screaming electric guitars and a rain of black blood! _Yeah_!)

_The battle had left her so drained, she could only sit there and wait with them as the life slowly drained from their bodies. They were dying. Together. She felt sick thinking about it even years down the road. She was the only remaining member of Team Seven. Or, she felt like it, at least. Kakashi, so caught up in his own grief, had taken up the ANBU mantle again and seemed bent to die in battle and far away from Konoha. _

_For her part, Sakura couldn't even bring herself to speak most days and it just got harder after Tsunade's death. She prayed everyday at the memorial stone that her shishou was somewhere warm and beautiful, reunited with her most precious people._

_The war had left its fingerprints all over the Konoha Eleven. Team Asuma was officially defunct. Ino had joined her father on the interrogation squad and Chouji had taken to missions with his family when Shikamaru was removed from active duty. Wheezing, coughing, pain. Sakura feared the coming results of the latest test._

_Hinata had officially been removed from her family, cast out. Neji hadn't followed her. The rift was visible, even between the polite smiles and promises of protection. Her teammates did all they could to stand beside her, but they too were facing pressure from their clans. With age came new responsibilities. It was only a matter of time..._

_Sakura mulled these dark things over as she stood outside Gai's hospital room, shaking. How did you tell a man like that that he couldn't be a shinobi anymore? That last fight, the heroics that had pulled his beloved protege from the line of fire, had shattered his legs. At his age, no medical jutsu could force what nature just wouldn't allow._

_Gods, when would it stop?_

5. Are we all sufficiently depressed now? Yeah? Well, I have Zoloft and razor blades. Who wants which?

6. Darkest sketch, darkest sketch! (Quote form Spoony Experiment)

7. MORE RANT! This one is... well, it ain't happier but it IS shorter. I like the Naruto/Hinata pairing. I really do. It has a Moe cuteness about it that's actually very appealing. I just hate how Kishimoto has handled it. Actually, I really kind of hate how fans handle it too, although that certainly doesn't surprise me considering I hate most of what fans tend to do (which includes everything from turning Genma into a piggish, boozing man-whore to how they dry hump and tongue-bath Sasuke every chance they get). People seem to be under this misconception that what Hinata feels for Naruto is true love.

It isn't. WAIT! Don't throw those rotten vegetables and sharpened spoons quite yet! I just mean that Hinata has spent, more or less, the whole series loving Naruto from afar. This is never properly addressed! After all, it's totally different to love someone up close. There's more to lose that way, more to forgive, and the view isn't always quite as nice when everything in right in yo' face. I get that she admires him and maybe I've missed a lot of their interactions (I don't keep up with the anime or the manga), but admiration is really only a sub-basement to love. It's a starting point, like a blueprint. It certainly isn't TRUE love by any stretch-at least not yet. But, again, I blame Kishi for most of this problem. I blame him for most everything, actually...

8. Okay, I promise I'm done.

9. Uh, updates might continue to be kind of slow. I have a lot of stuff on my plate and my mother and I are contemplating starting a web comic together. My sister is due with her baby in the spring and until then a lot of family stuff has me pulled in every direction. Not to mention school. Oh I hate it.

10. Blithe Spirits should be updated... eventually. I'd say the near future, but I can't make any promises. If it shows up in a few days, know that I probably went on a caffeine bender.

11. I think number four unquestionably qualifies as my longest note. Ever. (I'm poking as much fun at myself as anyone else with it, guys. I'm PAINFULLY aware of how lacking this story is in any weight. But I like it that way. It's very Three-Musketeers-y.)

12. As for this chapter: DOGS! Playing poker! I seriously couldn't resist guys. I also couldn't resist the idea of Naruto not knowing how to play Shogi for real and making up his own rules as he went (I used the English translations for the game pieces to avoid confusion). As for some of the other bits: Sakura's breakdown is kind of how me and most of my family handles things. We can keep a straight face for a long time, but the minute someone asks one of us if we're okay we start bawling. Then, for me, because I'm frustrated that I'm crying, I'll cry even harder. So embarrassing.

Kakashi will be MIA for the next chapter or so after this. But he'll be back. Maybe a little late, though. We all know how he is. Oh and I meant to bring this up a long time ago: I mention Sakura cooking a lot. I'm sorry, that's one of my past times. I'm actually very Iron Chef in the kitchen (to my family's delight as you can imagine). It's just a quirk I passed on.

13. All right, for serious now. I'm done. Leave me reviews my lovelies!


	22. In Which We Establish Things and Stuff

**House Calls**

**Chapter 22**

**

* * *

**

Sakura was grateful for the dogs' presence in the following days. The training was vigorous and exhausting but it was a distraction—one of many that she took to burying herself under to avoid thinking too hard about a certain someone.

Which didn't stop the thoughts from inviting themselves in edgewise or the panic that gripped her when they did.

_Holy shit._

She dodged Urushi and turned a somersault to avoid Uhei coming from behind before drawing three tagged kunai and throwing them. The blades buried themselves in the dirt between the dogs and the tags exploded in a cloud of pink-colored powder, marring both dogs' fur. Urushi sneezed in between incoherent, growled-out curses directed at Uhei who slung a few choice words back in reply.

Sakura pumped chakra into her feet to leap up to the nearest tree branch and then launched herself forward.

Tsunade refused to say much, but she seemed to think that Kakashi would be back in a few weeks. It was the first time Sakura had ever felt relief at the idea of one of her teammates being gone for so long and she felt only a tiny bit guilty for it. She needed the space. This sort of thing happened on missions all the time to teams. Working too closely made it hard to tell some feelings from others, made it difficult to see straight…

Some distance ahead, Guruko jumped onto Sakura from above, but when they hit the ground together, she disappeared from beneath his paws, replaced by a log. With an attached powder tag.

Sakura smiled as she darted away from the scene. Three down.

"Nice one."

"Thanks, Pak," she said as she paused on a branch and reached into her thigh holster, counting the weapons remaining there before reaching for her hip pouches. Uhei and Urushi probably didn't need three tags between them, but Uhei was the fastest of the eight and Urushi tended to be the most vicious. She had to be sure that they were definitely out of the way.

"Feeling all right?" he asked, sitting back on his haunches. "Need a break?"

"Actually, no," Sakura replied with some surprise and pleasure. She would have been desperate for some water and a rest just a few days before, but even after two hours of their 'game' she still felt energetic. This, she decided, would have to become a regular thing with the dogs. It seemed to be working wonders for her and they definitely seemed to enjoy it. "How about the boys?"

"Nope. They're doing just fine."

She nodded as she withdrew her hand from her hip pouch, her fingers curled into a fist. "They're going to ambush me now, aren't they?"

Pakkun smiled. "Better get moving."

Sakura hummed softly and then reached out as if to pat him on the head, but instead pressed a tag to the metal insignia of his headband. "Thanks, Pak!"

"Oi!"

She smiled and kicked off the branch, leaving behind a cloud of pink practice marker.

* * *

Sakura lost. Again. Her goal was to reach the lake and neutralize the dogs on the way there and while she managed the first part, she was mid-victory dance on the shore when she realized that she hadn't caught Shiba. Really, it was understandable. He was the silliest and most easily excitable of the eight, not smart like Akino or dangerous like Bull; easy to forget and dismiss. Right up until he charged from behind and playfully nipped her on the ass.

This, the dogs insisted, counted as 'first blood' and they claimed the victory.

She wasn't too disappointed. She had actually come prepared for a loss, having packed enough treats for all of them alongside the scroll sealed with shampoo and brushes. (After all, she didn't think Kakashi would appreciate summoning his dogs in hopes of intimidating someone and the majority of them being dusted with pink.)

"Quit laughin'!"

Sakura jammed a knuckle into her mouth as she scrubbed. "I'm really sorry, Urushi. It's just… your fur's, well… it's white and, _heh_, I can't _hehe_ get the pink out…"

* * *

A few more days passed and the dogs began to disappear intermittently without warning or notice. For the most part, it was just Pakkun, but the others occasionally vanished as well, sometimes disappearing mid-sentence in their enthusiasm to answer the summons.

Sakura didn't mind, of course. They were just acting as her playmates, but they still had a job to do.

However, she _did_ feel a tiny bit put-out the next day when they vanished on her just after she had challenged Gai, Lee, and Tenten to a capture-the-flag sort of exercise. (Neji was away on a solo mission, which made Sakura vaguely wonder if she wasn't scheduled for a visit from a cantankerous ANBU soon.)

Luckily for her, the odds weren't lopsided for long. Lee, in a fit of youthful mischief, decided to side with her and took the opportunity to throw Gai through the nearest tree. This only seemed to invigorate the older Jonin who shook off the blow and retaliated inside the same second with a joyful whoop.

Sakura and Tenten shared a look across the battle field as the medic drew a kunai from her thigh holster. She made a hand sign and a bright grin stretched across the brunette's face as she winked in reply.

* * *

"I'm so sorry about this, Lee."

"Nonsense! You have improved tremendously and it was gratifying to see such display of skill!"

Sakura sighed. Lee was propped back against a tree on the edge of the clearing as she kneeled in front of him. "Still, I should've pulled that punch. It wasn't fair of Tenten and me to turn on you guys like that."

He smiled—the best he could while she was realigning his nose and wishing she had something better for him than the crappy local anesthetic she carried in her med-pouch—and gave her a thumbs-up. "It was an exceptionally clever plan and a wonderful effort to improve our training! After all, a ninja must always know how to improvise!"

The speech came out nasally, what with the wads of tissue jammed up each nostril to stifle the bleeding, but he was no less enthusiastic than usual, which she supposed was a good sign. Sakura smiled back wearily and then cringed as his nose slid into place with a pop. Lee flinched a little but his smile never faltered. "It'll just take a second for me to knit the fractures," she said. "Just relax, okay?"

Lee gave her a thumbs-up and was just about to wind up for a speech when he was beaten to it by a voice booming at them from across the field. "Aha! What has befallen my precious student, Sakura-san?"

Sakura glanced back at Gai, who was beaming as he approached with Tenten, both of them looking battered but pleased. Well, Gai looked pleased. Tenten looked more than her fair share battered and _annoyed_ right up until she got a look at the bloody front of Lee's jumpsuit. With a whoop she threw her arms up into the air. "Yeah! A tie!"

The medic laughed uneasily. "I got in a lucky swing," she said.

"Well done, Sakura-san!" Gai's teeth gleamed as he smiled with all of them at once. "Ah, my eternal rival! Only one his teammates could possibly be a match for my own precious comrades!"

"Thank you, Gai-senpai," she replied with a half-smile thrown over her shoulder, but it fell quickly when she turned back at Lee, "I hate to say it, but I'm afraid that Lee's not in any condition to keep sparring. He shouldn't risk another shot to the face so soon."

Gai frowned, genuinely disappointed by this, but just as quickly he shrugged it off because this was Gai and he never remained down for long in any sense of the word. "Very well! My vibrant teammates, my youthful kohai, you have more than earned the right to retire early from practice this day! Who will join me for a few laps around the village to relax?"

Lee eagerly leapt to his feet and Sakura squawked in protest, trying to pull him back down to finish off the fracture. "I will be most happy to join you, sensei!" he cried, jubilantly. "Will you be joining us, Tenten? What about you, Sakura-san?"

Sakura glanced at Tenten, who was standing just behind Gai and shaking her head vigorously. "Ah, I would like to, but I really should be getting home. I have, um, medical files to… ah, file." She coughed and leaned to catch Tenten's eye. "Tenten, would you like to come with me to—"

"Of course, Sakura!"

* * *

"Haruno, I thought I said I didn't want to see you anywhere near this office until the end of your leave."

Sakura smiled as she nudged the door shut behind her. She didn't often contemplate her perks as Tsunade's apprentice—they came with some truly painful consequences after all—but she did appreciate the fact that she was probably one of the only people who could face a Tsunade who had been trapped in her office all day surrounded by paperwork. With a smile, no less.

Besides, it was nearing the end of her first week of leave and she could use a little excitement even if it meant poking the bear.

"I come with gifts," she chimed, producing an expensive jug of sake from behind her back and swishing it merrily. "Need a break?"

"Not as much as I need a drink," Tsunade drawled in reply as she eyed her student and then the sake. "Don't be coy, Sakura. What do you want?"

The medic nodded. "All right, fine," she said. "Dig Kakashi's medical file out for me, please? Time off is killing me and I have to do _something_ productive."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow as she got to her feet. "You're still on that?" she asked. "I thought you would have given up ages ago."

"Not an option," Sakura replied defiantly as she opened the top drawer of Tsunade's bureau and drew out two sake dishes, which she placed on the only unoccupied square inches of desktop available and then filled. "Being stubborn is the only reason I survived training with you."

The blond hummed in response—certainly not in disagreement—and from the middle drawer of a cabinet, pulled out a manila folder. "So, how are his symptoms?" she asked, throwing the folder onto the desk and flipping it open. She reached for her sake dish. "His clarity hasn't been suffering much according to this."

Sakura nodded and took a sip from her drink. "Headaches, a negligible loss of peripheral vision; nothing's changed since the last update, but then I'm not sure if he'd admit if it had. You know him."

Tsunade snorted derisively. "I know him," she agreed, draining her dish and then slamming it back down for a refill. "How's the research going? Are you still pursuing the Byakugan angle?"

"Well… yeah."

"Anything?"

The girl pushed some rosette strands out of her face in frustration as she slumped back against the desk. "I have a few interesting leads and with a little more work I think I can prove a connection, which is more than what we've ever had…" She sighed as she rubbed at her neck. "But it's tough working with just Neji, Hinata, and Hanabi. They're the three strongest Hyuuga in the rotation now and they're always away on missions, even Hinata. Besides, it's such a small sampling I can't consider anything derived from it conclusive."

"Then get a bigger sample."

"You say that like it's so easy," Sakura snorted. "The clan elders hate me. They'll discourage the rest of the clan from volunteering to—"

"You don't need volunteers." Tsunade spared her a look and a small, conspiring grin. "I'll call a meeting with Hinata tomorrow. She's been using this project with you as an excuse to flex her muscles against the elders, hasn't she? If she would happen to make it an order, you could examine every man, woman, and child living at that compound and the elders wouldn't be able to say _boo_."

Sakura grinned back as she reached over to pour her master another dishful of sake. "You sound a little too pleased with the prospect."

"Well, some women knit," the woman answered, flicking one pigtail over her shoulder. "Does that solve your problem?"

"One half of it."

"What of the other half?"

"Transplanted kekkei genkai: how much do we know about that?"

Tsunade pulled a face as she sank into her chair and then reached forward to flip a few pages in Kakashi's file. "Not much. What are you thinking?"

Sakura shrugged. "The more information the better," she replied. "It occurs to me that the fact that Kakashi doesn't have the bloodline for what is a bloodline trait will determine how we approach fixing it. Since the Sharingan wasn't even kind to people who were _meant_ to have it, we'll need to tread very carefully with this."

The blond woman sighed as she turned a few more pages. "Good point, but you know that Kakashi is one of a rare breed. Transplanting a kekkei genkai is only possible when the power is concentrated in a specific organ and you know what lengths clans with those sorts abilities will go to in order to prevent such transplants." She sat back, squinting at the folder as she folded her arms and crossed her legs. "That said, I could always write Mei."

Sakura blinked. "The Mizukage? What can she do?"

"Do you remember when she visited last summer and brought those bodyguards of hers? That blowhard with the eyepatch, what was his name?" Tsunade rubbed at her forehead with one hand and snapped the fingers of the other. "I believe you two had some words when he wouldn't stop harassing his partner?"

The medic sniffed. 'Words' was putting it delicately. She rather liked Chojuro, him being of the few Kiri-nin that didn't have her constantly itching to draw a kunai, and she didn't like bullies even if the offender meant it as a bizarre, exclusive only to Kiri-nin show of camaraderie. "Ao," she supplied.

"That's it. He has a Byakugan transplant. Now, I'm sure he'd never let any Konoha medic examine it, but with him being the one who performed the transplant he'd be able to give you a decent report on it. At the very least, getting his take on things can't hurt."

Sakura pulled a face and the tiny elitist part of her scoffed. Being a hunter-nin did not make that man anywhere near qualified to give her a report on anything. Coincidentally, this just happened to be exactly what she had told him in the summer just before their argument had dissolved into what amounted to some really colorful name-calling. She didn't even want to know the logistics behind stealing a Byakugan. Well… _okay_, she totally _did_, but she'd never admit to it. "Are you sure that Mizukage-sama will be able to convince him?"

"Oh, she won't have a problem with that and don't give me that look. Beggars can't be choosers."

The girl pouted and drained her dish.

* * *

"Yo."

Sakura looked up as Pakkun leapt up onto her bed in front of her. She was lying on her stomach, poring over a few medical texts and some of the more ancient documents from the Hyuuga's library. "Hey," she greeted from around the eraser of a pencil as she gnawed on it. "How's the mission going?"

"Eh, no complaints," the dog replied. "Sorry about this morning."

She waved a hand dismissively. "That's all right." She sat up a little to remove his forehead protector and vest and then gave him an affectionate pat. "How's Kakashi doing?"

"He hasn't gotten hurt if that's what you mean."

Sakura smiled and nodded before looking back to her files. The little dog shook himself out and flopped down on the bed beside her, resting his chin on his forepaws.

Kakashi.

A spark.

She'd have to face it eventually, she knew. It had been years since she let herself run away rather than confront a problem. Then again, it had been years since she had felt this way. It wasn't that she didn't find any of the men around her attractive—she and the other girls had an entire scale of comparison figured out—but it had been a long time since that attraction was more than just a superficial interest in appearance.

Hell, the spark was there and she had no idea what he actually looked like.

"What's that?"

Sakura glanced over at Pakkun as she turned a page in her notes. "Doing some research. Hinata dredged these books up from the Hyuuga vaults for me to look through."

"Figure anything out?"

"Hm… maybe. But if the Hyuuga know anything about the Sharingan, I haven't gotten to it yet. Did you guys get some dinner? I have leftovers in the fridge I'm not about to finish."

"Nah, we're all right," he replied. Then, after a pause, he glanced over at her, "Oi, Sakura?"

"What's up, Pak?"

He lifted his head a little to consider her. "We're friends right?"

Sakura looked to him, her eyebrows raised. "Well, yeah," she began, smiling a little as she dropped her chin to rest on top of her arms, leveling her gaze with him. "Why ask? Having more girl trouble?"

"Nah," he muttered. "I'm taking a break from all that for a while. I was just asking because… well, you lied to the Yamanaka girl the other night."

Sakura stiffened. Oh, _crap_. She hadn't even considered that. Of _course_ Pakkun had smelled the lie. She panicked a little. Had the others? Did she offend them? How did dogs feel about that kind of thing?

"You weren't lying because we were there, were you?"

She cringed visibly. No, she only lied to get Ino off her back, but, _yes_, they were there and even if she could trust Pakkun with the truth, she wasn't sure about the others.

The medic paused and her shoulders slumped.

The truth, huh? She supposed that that was a confirmation, wasn't it? She was attracted to Kakashi or at the very least had begun thinking about him in a decidedly not teammate-esque way and… well, _crap_. Her fingers itched to grab a pillow to smother herself.

"Kinda," Sakura said with a wince.

For a moment the Pug eyed her and then shrugged. "You could do worse."

The girl raised an eyebrow. "Than who?"

"You know who."

"How—"

"You lied because me and the boys were there," he replied. "If you just had a thing for that pale kid, it wouldn't have mattered if we were around or not, would it?"

"Well, no."

He nodded. "Fine, then it's like I said: you could do worse."

Sakura eyed him. "For one: I'm not going to _do_ anything… or anyone. And if I were, you don't have anything more to say than that?"

He cocked his head back to dig at his ear. "I already told you that we like having you around; that you're good for him. Don't need more than that do you?"

"I suppose not." She reached out to rub his ear. "You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"

"Nope."

Sakura eyed him doubtfully for a long minute before turning back to her books, now thoroughly uncomfortable on a whole new level.

* * *

Kakashi found that while the time spent in Kiri kept his mind occupied, he still couldn't quite elude Sakura.

For the most part, he simply regretted not having her company. Water was an awful place even when on one of the many beaches, because rare was the day when it wasn't raining and, in the summer, rarer still was the day where the humidity wasn't suffocating in its thickness.

He supposed wanting her there wasn't really an inappropriate sentiment in that light. There was nothing romantic about it; misery just loved company.

And misery was really the best way to describe this mission. The whole business was quickly reminding him of why he had no desire to go back to ANBU and why he was never volunteering for another one of these training missions. He had actually forgotten how much he hated hazings.

Sure. It _was_ fun the first time you led a bunch of green ANBU recruits out into what was supposedly hostile territory in Water Country and then cast a genjutsu that had them thinking the whole camp had been slaughtered when they were away performing some menial task. However, the entertainment value was temporary at best and it devolved quickly into a lot of sitting around and waiting for them to react.

It was at this point, when Kakashi found himself observing the group of confused and panicked greenies from the upper branch of a nearby tree, that he really found himself wishing Sakura was there if only so she could speed the process along. She never would have fallen for this.

(Very, very privately, he realized that that was probably something to add to a mounting list of things he found attractive about her.)

"How's it going?"

For a big man, it was _amazing_ how quietly Morino Ibiki could move. The Copy-nin spared him a sideways look, coolly considering the man standing on the branch beside him. "I'd send them all back to Konoha right now," he said.

The corner of the interrogation expert's scarred mouth quirked upwards slightly in amusement as he shifted so that his weight was leaning into the tree trunk. "You've never had the patience for this, Hatake," he drawled. He nodded toward the group. "These are some of our best prospects. Just give them time."

Kakashi sighed.

Eventually (a few minutes longer than what Kakashi thought acceptable), one of the recruits (a young woman—an Inuzuka if the markings didn't deceive him) turned to a compatriot (an Aburame) and drilled her fist square into the man's nose. He broke composure (a feat in itself) and began damning her to the depths of hell before, at length, opening his watering eyes. He stopped cold.

"I like her," Kakashi noted boredly (and thinking to himself that he could see Sakura remedying the current problem via such methods).

Ibiki gave another enigmatic half-smile and then spared the Copy-nin a quick look from the corner of his eye. "Why aren't any of your kids down there?" he wondered, both of them ignoring the shouting of release commands and the mobilizing of recruits.

A thousand protests immediately leapt to the forefront of Kakashi's mind. They weren't _his_ kids or kids anymore at all for that matter. They were teammates, adults, free to make their own choices and he was in no way their _parental_ unit because one didn't lust after—

He remembered right then why he hated working with Ibiki. The man could turn even the most innocuous conversation into a mind fuck, even if he himself didn't initially intend it that way. Right then, he was probably reading all kinds of things into Kakashi's pause. Totally wrong things at that. "Neither one of them are really cut out for it," he said at length.

Ibiki hummed quietly. "Yeah, that Uzumaki kid's still kind of a loose canon, isn't he?"

"He can be," Kakashi agreed.

"What about Haruno?"

It bothered Kakashi that Ibiki even knew Sakura's name. Of course, she had been treating ANBU operatives at her home. Ibiki probably had eyes on her just out of principle. "She's just a medic," he replied blandly.

"We could use a few of them and if the reports I've read on her are right, she's hardly _just_ a medic. You're hoarding some real power players, Hatake."

He spared the man a look. "It's not any fun to have a secret club if no one wants to join, is it?"

Ibiki rolled his eyes but didn't deign to respond. Instead, he cast a look the greenies' way and then turned and leapt from the tree. Kakashi followed, intentionally letting on to his departure with a noisy rustle of branches. Time to get the show on the road. The Kiri-nin that had come out to help (the ones lying in wait just a few short miles away) would be disappointed if they didn't get some action soon.

* * *

Back at the encampment, after an impressive display of ineptitude on the greenies' parts during the ambush, Kakashi found himself helping sort the slightly injured recruits from the slightly less injured recruits, all the while Sakura's voice coached him from the back of his memory.

When he settled down in his bunk that night, still thinking of Sakura and wondering how she and the dogs were doing, he realized that he was in trouble.

* * *

Sakura suffered through another week of 'relaxing', counting the days and marking them off her calendar until she was finally and _officially_ back on duty at seven in the morning fifteen days after Tsunade had slapped her with the forced leave of absence. She celebrated by punching in at the hospital and attending to every returning team in record time. Once finished, she gleefully dressed down every nurse on the floor for making exhausted ninja wait for their coffee breaks to be over, told a few doctors off just _because_, scolded the interns for keeping a messy filing system, and then skipped down to the research labs to see if she could be of any help.

"Heard about your little show at the hospital," Tsunade said as her apprentice sauntered into the office practically glowing with satisfaction. She lifted her eyes briefly from her paperwork. "Do you feel better now?"

Sakura marched passed her to push open the windows and then turned and smiled. "Much."

* * *

A note arrived from Kumo by way of toad at the end of the week (the creature had felt it necessary to appear in Sakura's kitchen, on her countertop, and while she respected Jiraiya's old summons… ew). Sai's writing was impeccably neat and informed Sakura that the team was doing well and that Naruto and Konohamaru were yet to ignite an international incident. Overall, he concluded, things were going well.

It was the only note she was expecting, so was surprised upon receiving another a week later after Pakkun returned from being summoned once again. Kakashi wasn't one to write and Sakura had long ago learned to simply not expect to hear from him, no matter how long he was away. So it took a little effort to hide her stupid smile when she pulled the rolled paper from beneath Pakkun's vest.

Kakashi's appallingly messy scrawl informed her simply that he was not injured, he was eating, he was sleeping, and he expected to be home within the next week or so. It was short (maybe even a little snarky if she read into it too much), but it was unexpectedly thoughtful of the man and she found herself hard-pressed to keep from smiling.

* * *

Naruto and Sai shuffled back into town not too many days later (showing up on Sakura's porch around midnight one night, sleepy-eyed and haggard). She placed them on leave after their back-to-back away missions and shortly thereafter found herself up to her eyeballs in things to do. Naruto had learned a few new things from Killer Bee while in Kumo and was eager to show them off (she drew the line at his newly acquired rhyming skills, however) and an influx of missions had led to an influx of patients.

So when she just barely noticed a week creep by with no sign of Kakashi, it was completely understandable. However, when a few more days passed, his absence wormed its way into the forefront of her awareness and when another week passed even the chaotic shuffle of returning and departing teams wasn't enough to distract her from the fact that Kakashi was two weeks late returning home.

"Eh, it's _Kakashi_," Naruto said at breakfast one morning after training. "You know him. He probably sat down under some tree to read somewhere and lost track of time. There's nothin' to worry about."

And he was right (as odd as that sounded). It was silly to worry about Kakashi, who was a grown man and, even besides that, the Copy-nin. However, Sakura felt perfectly entitled to take refuge in a tiny bit of anger. After all, the man could have sent some sort of word, having shown himself to be quite literate.

This was her argument (accompanied by an extra convincing slap upside the head) when Naruto accused her of fussing too much over the old man. She was angry. Not worried.

Or, that's what she kept telling herself: She was angry. Not irrationally worried about a man who had proven time and time again capable of taking care of himself.

Sakura huffed as she pulled her brush one last time through her hair, which was damp after her evening shower, and then threw it into the bathroom sink. She hiked the waistband of her too-large sweats up and pulled the cord tight as she flipped the light off with her elbow and stepped out into her bedroom.

Two weeks was nothing, especially when a mission entailed travelling back and forth from Water Country. Not only were the islands criminal infested, but the transport ships were slow, almost never on time, and the captains could be downright impossible when negotiating a ride from them.

These were all reasonable enough explanations.

She wandered into the kitchen, intent on getting a drink of water and going to bed. There weren't any teams scheduled to return that night (not that schedules meant anything) and it was entirely possible that she just wasn't getting enough sleep. That could certainly cause anxiety and she preferred to think that she was just working too hard and _not_ letting a stupid crush override her practicality.

A stupid crush. On Kakashi.

She shook herself as she stood at the sink, her hands poised on either side of it.

It was only when Ino (and, to a lesser degree, her family) brought up finding someone or settling down that she really gave any thought to her love life. Except for the last few weeks. She had been doing everything in her power to distract herself from it since that poker night with Ino, but the thoughts crept in anyways and, sometimes, she found herself helplessly immersed in them. Even more frustrating was the fact that, fight them though she tried, they were still making her reassess things she had never given much thought to.

Her reasons for not dating were solid. She was busy. She had other things that concerned her, other things that needed her attention. But when it came to Kakashi, those reasons were, more or less, invalid. He already fit into her life and her schedule; a well-established part of her paradigm. More than that, he understood her and they really, genuinely, fit together.

However, he was simply too important.

Sakura had spent the last few years fighting the uphill battle to get closer to him and she hadn't done all that, she hadn't made one of the best connections in her life, to mess it up by letting a few hormones and a silly crush get in the way.

But how to get out of this? If she pulled back she would lose him and if she got any closer she'd be burned.

Someone sneezed behind her and Sakura, jarred from her reverie and suddenly knee-deep in disappointment that she hadn't heard the intruder come in, turned sharply with her arm extended to backhand the unfortunate soul. They ducked the blow, caught her wrist, and then pushed her into the follow-through, forcing her to face them as they pinned her hand to the cupboard.

Kakashi. Sakura honestly wasn't surprised. It wasn't the first time that the very act of thinking about him seemed to summon him.

Gritting her teeth, she jerked her knee up with hopes of being able to push him away, but he simply knocked her leg down again and then slid forward to pin her knee with one of his.

Compromising, compromising, a little part of her mind said gleefully as, just to be _really_ annoying, he braced her still free hand to the cupboard and leaned his full weight into her with one hip to completely restrain her.

She huffed and jerked her head back to look at him, her hair falling messily in her eyes. His visible eye creased into a familiar smile. "Sakura-chan," he greeted.

"Kakashi-sensei."

A pause as he opened his eye to regard her. For a moment they just stared at each other and then he glanced down at her hands. "Are you going to hit me if I let you go?"

"Maybe." She tossed her head, trying to shake the bangs out of her eyes and succeeding only a very little bit. "You're late, you know."

"I got held up."

"For two weeks?" she demanded.

His eye creased again. "C'mon. That isn't very long at all."

She huffed. "It's long enough."

"You probably weren't even worried about me."

"I was too, you idiot!"

* * *

Sakura did her best to hide how her confession panicked her while Kakashi did his best to hide how it thrilled him. She worried that she looked clingy while he wondered at the realization that this was the first time in his life that he had ever had anyone who worried for and missed him when he was away.

* * *

Sakura found herself holding her breath as he released her right hand and then reached forward to carefully push her hair out of her eyes. She looked away and prayed that she wasn't blushing when he smiled and then finally took a step back.

"You're not hurt," she muttered to the floor.

"Nope."

Sakura lifted her gaze again to eye him (menacingly, she hoped) as he leaned back against the opposing wall, one hand in his pocket. "What took you so long then?"

"Got ambushed."

A thin, pink eyebrow crawled upwards. "Ambushed?"

"Well, it is Water Country."

All right, she could concede that that was a fair enough argument. It was kind of a joke that being ambushed in Water Country hardly counted as being ambushed; it was just something you expected.

He scratched at his cheek as he looked away. "I was actually working with ANBU."

Sakura frowned and braced both hands against the cupboard behind her to push herself up to sit on it. "I thought you had retired from ANBU."

"You never really retire," he replied with a shrug. "You can stop taking ANBU missions, but they'll still ask for favors every now and then. It was nothing serious. Just breaking in some new recruits."

"How'd it go?"

"Mah, as well as you can expect."

"If I ask, will you tell me what that means?"

"Probably not."

She nodded, annoyed with the typically vague answers but just so glad that he was back that she was beginning to wonder when exactly she had lost her mind.

Kakashi, for his part, was glad to be back and so surprised by this that he forgot to scold himself for getting too close, forgot to remind himself that this was a bad idea, forgot that the only reason he had gone to Kiri was to forget whatever _this_ was.

* * *

1. Hello my lovelies! I am back with another chapter. Belated, I know, but it was unavoidable.

2. Right off the bat, I'm going to apologize for this chapter. I've edited and rewritten so many parts of it so many times that I'm almost ready to scrap it. Instead, I'm posting so we can all just get on with it already. I also apologize ahead of time for typos or general incoherency. Let me know if anything is really, really wrong.

3. Only a few sides notes this time. First of all: Yay ninken! My love of them must be apparent by now. I have tried to give them each their own personality to some degree, I hope that kind of shows through. They're really actually underutilized in fanfics or they're treated as a mindless collective. However, I am a dog lover so I can't help but make them characters too.

4. I described Sakura using a few different types of explosive tags. I figure if they're sort of the ninja equal to grenades, why can't they come in as many flavors? I mention pepper tags, which would be more like CS or tear gas, and powder tags, which would probably work the same as paint grenades in paintball.

5. Oh the Hyuuga thing. I'm sort of fumbling with all of these different subplots I've established and each one of them has quickly become a harpy in my crinoline (... Don't worry, I smacked myself for that analogy for you) because I'm not very good at juggling. I'm actually prone to dropping things and generally being a destructive mess. But there's nothing I can do about them now.

6. I swear we'll get to some serious fluff soon. I really promise. The build up will (hopefully) be worth it!

7. Oh! Even if I'm totally hatin' on this chapter, my love of side characters is VERY well-documented and I liked being able to throw in mentions of Chojuro and Ao. I don't know why, but I love those guys (particularly Ao, but I just really have a thing for older guys). Oh and the Mizukage. They entertain me to no end and I'm afraid I might have to post some crack eventually featuring one of them just to get this serious crush out of my system.

8. Oh and Ibiki! I just... yeah. I can't explain my infatuation with him. Older dudes.

**(All right, that's it for me, guys. Review and have a very Merry Christmas. God bless and be careful while you travel!)**


	23. In Which We Sleep Perchance to Dream

**House Calls**

**Chapter 23**

**

* * *

**

"Ugh, you don't listen to me!"

"It isn't becoming of a young woman to tell lies, Sakura."

Sakura scowled at Kakashi from where she sat on her kitchen cupboard to be level with him while she checked his Sharingan. His forehead protector lay unknotted beside her. "You are _so_ not allowed to henpeck me anymore for working too hard," she huffed. "Every time you come home, your chakra's exhausted. Do you know how much strain that puts on your system? And at your age?"

"Hey now," he scolded with a near audible pout.

"I'm just saying that you should be more careful," she huffed, pressing an insistent finger into his chest. "You and Gai are just alike. I'm starting to think it's a generational thing."

"Perseverance?"

"Stupidity."

He eyed her, but it was ineffective as she covered his Sharingan with one hand and slid the other around to hold the back of his head, keeping him steady.

Sakura passed the time by reflecting on how many penises she had seen and reminding herself that in light of that _this_ was not in any way intimate or inappropriate or anything to act like a stupid, flustered moron about. He didn't even have his junk out.

Oh, great. Now she was thinking about Kakashi's junk.

Way to go.

"So, what have you been up to?"

She was grateful for the topic change, because honestly her mind was apparently determined to go somewhere frightening. "Nothing really," she replied. She honed in on the nerves around his Sharingan. "How's it feel?"

He shrugged. "It's fine."

Sakura frowned thoughtfully. "It isn't any worse than before? What about the headaches?"

"The same," he replied. His eye drooped sleepily as he considered her. "I hope you did more than nothing when we were gone."

She suppressed the urge to smile as she dropped her hands from his head to his chest, slipping the zipper of his flak jacket down to slide her hands underneath. "You didn't have to send the dogs _just_ to keep me company," she said at length. She pushed her chakra into him, reaching into his system to check his vitals, to make certain that he was as whole as he appeared because she had learned a long time ago that this was probably the only thing she couldn't trust him with.

"Good. Because I didn't."

It was a lie. They both knew that much. She smiled as she swept her chakra over his heart. "I would have been pretty lonely without them," she mused. "It's difficult to go from having people in and out at all hours to not having anyone around at all." She paused as she slid her arms around to his back to check his lungs and then added, "Thank you."

Kakashi nodded. "No problem."

Sakura smiled, her hands slipping away to rest against his sides. Her chakra flared through his ribs, checking their placement, checking for cracks or breaks and he still just stood there, compliant, with his hands resting lightly on the countertop on either side of her.

She thought it said something about her 'crush' when, even at a proximity that allowed her a whiff of his scent (a combination of sweat and dirt barely underlined by soap), she didn't really feel compelled to touch him. Of course, she was touching him already, yeah, but there was nothing sensual about it. It was a necessary sort of touch. Not amorous. Not _something else_.

Maybe this _was_ a phase.

Or maybe, another part of her brain argued for argument's sake, it was a _bad_ sign. This wasn't physical. This wasn't about looks or sex. It wasn't shallow. It wasn't meaningless.

"Sakura, are you all right?"

She looked to him, at his one open eye creased with worry. It took considerable force of will to stop the compulsion to slap her own stupid self for thinking not a second later, "Well, it is a nice eye."

Ino would have the exact figures on just how pathetic that was.

"I'm fine," she lied, feeling suddenly claustrophobic between his proximity and the fact that she couldn't take her eyes off of him.

Okay, so there were sparks. But they weren't _physical_ sparks. At least, she didn't think so. She wasn't exactly sure _what_ it was that had happened that night in Wind Country. Did that count? Could there be physical attraction when you didn't even know what the other person looked like?

Well... there was an easy way to figure this out, wasn't there?

Look away, she told herself firmly. Look away before you do something stupid and unforgivable. Look away before you do something you can't take back. He's a friend, a trusted teammate, one of the best things—

Too late.

He looked surprised when she slid her hands up his chest to wrap around his head, her fingers buried in the hair at the base of his neck and her thumbs stroking thoughtfully over his cheeks over his mask.

But he didn't push her away.

And he didn't stop her when she pulled him down to her and pressed her mouth to his. His mask chafed her skin a little but she ignored that as she pressed a little more insistently, a little more confidently into the kiss, finding his lips pliant beneath hers. A tiny bolt of white-hot pleasure shot through her system, igniting a peculiar warmth in her gut.

_Then_ he kissed her back. Her mind reeled, practicality and logic lost to the feeling as he lifted one hand and tangled his fingers in her hair as his other hand slid under her knee and dragged her closer to the edge of the counter. Toward him.

A part of her panicked.

Another part melted and fought to be closer because this wasn't enough.

He pulled her deeper into the kiss and Sakura followed, opening her mouth against his and wishing his mask would just get out of the way.

Wishing a lot of things would just get out of the way.

His hands fell back to his sides as she pushed his flak jacket off of his shoulders and it hit the kitchen floor with a heavy thud, but the reprieve was short-lived. They were back a second later, pulling her tight against him.

Another thud, louder this time.

Sakura shivered as he began began working at the knot of her robe with one skillful set of fingers as the other teased at the hem.

Another thud.

* * *

Sakura shot up in bed, reaching for her robe before she could even muster a coherent thought. The only things registering in her foggy mind were the heavy footsteps out in the kitchen and the thumping on her bedroom door.

Shaking and trying desperately to stifle her racing heart, she struggled into her robe and staggered to the door. One step outside and a pair of large, warm hands caught her, steadying her gently against the doorway as her sleepy feet stumbled over themselves. She looked up and fought a blush when she saw that it was Kakashi. Oh gods, that's right. He had taken to her couch again after she had tended his Sharingan.

(It'd occur to her later that working on his Sharingan would get impossible if her dreams kept perverting the little sessions after the fact.)

"How bad is it?" she asked, pushing her hair out of her eyes and desperately trying to slip into the cool detachment of a medic.

"Pretty bad," he replied with a backward glance. "Just tell me what to do."

His words grounded her in an instant, firmly planting her feet in reality where they were teammates and friends and she was being an _idiot_. She nodded and slipped around him into the kitchen.

It was the first time in a long time, she decided as she knelt down beside a Jonin with a massive chest wound, that she was grateful for such an interruption.

* * *

The next morning, Sakura stood with her weight against her kitchen cupboard as she admired the sparkling clean of her floors and cabinets. The bloody mess left behind by the wounded had been enough to warrant a decon team from the hospital, who had stomped around and made noise into the wee hours leaving her with dark circles and a less than pleasant disposition. Kakashi was lucky. He at least had somewhere else to go (however reluctantly because he hadn't had the chance to twist her arm into buying him groceries).

Not that she would have been able to sleep anyway. That dream had felt all too real and she wasn't completely sure if she could handle another one like it.

"Why do I get this job?" she asked aloud as Naruto pulled his shirt over his head, his long coat and vest lying on the floor under the kitchen table near Sai's feet.

"Aw, c'mon Sakura-chan. You've had to put my guts back in and you complain about a haircut?" the blond pouted. He slid a chair from the table out into the middle of the room and then moved to lean into the sink, turning on the water to soak his hair. "That doesn't say anything good about you, you know."

"There are perfectly good barbers in Konoha that would love the tips."

Naruto eyed her as he wrung his hair out. "You know you're just being disagreeable because you're cranky and you don't _really_ mind."

She eyed him in reply for a long moment and then began to nod. "Yeah," she agreed, reaching into a kitchen drawer for a pair of scissors, "I know. So, how short do you want it?"

"Same as always."

Naruto threw himself into the chair and Sakura approached him, raking her fingers experimentally through his shaggy locks and realizing just then how long the familiar, blond spikes had gotten. She smiled. "Not going to wear it long like your dad?" she wondered.

"Nah," he said with a grin. "Baa-chan says I already look enough like the guy to give people flashbacks. I don't need to steal his hair too. Means more work for you, I guess."

She rolled her eyes. "That's all right, I'll just add 'barber' to my list of credentials."

Of course, Sakura didn't mind. She had caught Naruto cutting his own hair once on a mission and even though he had been doing a good job she volunteered to finish it for him anyway. Since then, it had just stuck. In Sai's case, he had sat through one such haircut and then took Naruto's spot the moment the blond stood up to wipe the cuttings off his back. He filed it under the header of 'team bonding', but Sakura suspected that he just liked the feeling of human contact and, either way, she couldn't begrudge him.

The medic worked in silence for some time, cutting away inches of blond locks until eventually they sprung upwards again in their usual uncontrollable spikes. She measured the length between her fingers and then moved on to trim carefully around his ears. After a little while longer, she finished with a flourish and then straightened to dust the clippings from his shoulders. "Next."

Sai stood and removed his shirt. The sight of his tattoos were not so jarring now, but the black ink still looked harsh against his pallor. "Out of curiosity," Sakura began as he sat down in front of her his hair already damp, "do you plan on adding any more? Tattoos, I mean?"

He gave her an odd look. "Eventually, yes," he replied and his lips jerked up quickly in what might have a smile. "I was thinking about adding a dog of some sort. For tracking."

"Does it work like that?" Naruto asked as he checked out his haircut in the shiny metal side of the toaster.

Sai shrugged. "It can."

Naruto glanced back at Sakura and smiled the smile Sakura had come to know as the one that always preempted something insane. "I think Sakura-chan needs a tattoo," he proposed.

Yeah, she totally called that. "Tch, not happening."

"Aw, c'mon," he said with a laugh. "It can be a team thing. Even Kakashi has a tattoo and yes that totally counts."

No, it totally didn't. ANBU tattoos were mandatory; they were something to denote rank and served as a permanent badge representing sacrifice and diligence. But he'd argue that they were still tattoos so her eyes shifted to his stomach and the swirling marking there. "Your seal isn't really a tattoo."

"Yeah-huh it is. Anyway, yours can be something tasteful. Doesn't have to be a tramp stamp."

He was grinning widely now, obviously just teasing, but Sakura wanted to throw the scissors at him anyway because that was just her accepted role in these sorts of conversations. "You're nuts," she said.

"C'mon. Maybe if it just said 'kunoichi' or something."

"At what point then do we then start tattooing 'boy' and 'girl' on ourselves?"

Naruto rolled his eyes.

"I suppose that would rule out any depiction of cherry blossoms as well then?" the ex-ROOT agent asked suddenly as Sakura gently tipped his head forward so that his chin was against his chest.

"Good guess."

"What about a koi?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow as trimmed the hair at the very base of his neck, cutting it as short as she could. "A fish?"

"Perseverance and strength," he replied. "Or a crane. Fortune and long-life."

She pursed her lips, hating that she didn't totally hate either idea. "Fine," she said. "If I ever get really, _really_ drunk and you manage to talk me into it then, you can give me a tattoo. A little one."

Not damn likely. A combination of incredible tolerance alongside a general distaste for most alcohol kept Sakura pretty dry. Even some of the older guys hadn't quite worked up to her level of immunity (hey, late nights studying medical texts needed to be spiced up somehow no matter how badly she hated the taste). At any rate, the boys both seemed to recognize the slim chances because Naruto visibly (if mockingly) pouted and Sai simply let it drop.

* * *

"Good morning, boys."

The only acknowledgment she received from the eight ninken sprawled on Kakashi's sparse furniture was in the form of a few lazily wagging tails. She smiled at them and then kicked the door shut behind her, balancing a grocery bag on each hip.

The decision was made: she was not going to let one freaky dream wig her out. She was a mature, strong woman. A dream could not, _would_ not stand between her and acting like the skilled, level-headed medic she was.

Or that's what she had told herself all the way from her house to the store to Kakashi's apartment.

Sakura sat the bags on the counter and then turned away to cross the room to the Copy-nin's bedroom door, which she nudged open as quietly as possible.

"Go. Away."

Well, so much for the stealthy approach.

Kakashi's voice was muffled by his pillow, in which his face was completely buried. She smiled and moved around to the other side of the bed, picking his flak jacket up from the floor and laying it on top of his dresser as she did so. She paused by his window sill and smiled tenderly at the small plant and the little, paper crane sitting there side-by-side.

Then she turned, took two strides over to his bed, grabbed hold of the edge of the mattress and before the great Copy-nin of Konoha could react, she flipped him off onto the floor. Ah. Tradition. Normalcy.

She dropped the bed back onto its frame and dusted her hands off on her hips. "It's past one," she said. "Naruto and Sai are expecting us on the training field in an hour."

He scowled at her (well, he squinted one eye in mild agitation) but got to his feet. "What happened to resting after a mission?" he grumbled.

Sakura shrugged, picking his dirty shirt up off the floor and throwing it into a pile in the corner. "You weren't injured. Your chakra might still be a little low, but that's your fault. Our training shouldn't slack off because our team leader doesn't know how to be responsible for his health."

He made a 'blah-blah' gesture at her, snapping his four fingers and thumb together as he made his way over to the dresser. She rolled her eyes at him and stepped out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

She couldn't help but mentally pat herself on the back as she put the groceries away. It was one thing to have the goofy dreams, but she refused to let it affect her outwardly and she definitely wasn't going to act like an idiot in front of Kakashi. He was absolutely the last person that needed to start wondering what was wrong with her.

A few minutes later, after the shower had turned on and then off, the man himself stepped out into the living room, leaning against his bedroom doorframe as he pulled on his shoes. "Way to be on your guard, boys," he said to the dogs with a sideways look. Uhei and Urushi, who were lying on their backs, rolled pairs of white-rimmed eyes around to look at him while the others thumped their tails or perked an ear. "Good to know how much your loyalty is worth: liver treats and a day out on the lake."

"Well, I'm also prettier than you," Sakura replied from the fridge, smiling when she heard a snicker from the dogs' direction. "You ready?"

He grunted as he pulled his Jonin sweater down over his head. "You know that the boys are probably going to try to ambush us, right?" he asked, fishing his arms through the sleeves.

"I figured on it, yeah." She grabbed an apple out of a bowl she had just filled on the cupboard and dropped it into her hip pouch. "Should we have some fun with them first?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't see why not," he said.

Sakura froze as he placed one hand on her back to guide her out of the way as he pulled out a drawer and withdrew a handful of sharpened shuriken. She blinked and tried to focus on the fact that he kept shuriken in his kitchen drawer rather than the startling hot, tingling feel spreading outward over her skin from where his hand lay against her. "Seriously?" she asked, trying to keep her tone deadpan.

"Hey, I've seen your weapon stashes. Someone who keeps a kunai in a bowl of chocolates has no right to judge me."

She stuck her tongue out in reply and then turned toward the front door, rubbing at her left arm where the skin was covered by a fresh crop of goose-bumps. "Bye, boys," she called to the dogs as casually as she could muster.

"Later, Sakura," Pakkun edged out around a wide yawn. He smiled when Kakashi gave him a hard look and Sakura grinned as she led the way out.

* * *

Sakura wasn't sure why she forgot sometimes that Sai had belonged to ANBU (to ROOT no less) and was therefore just as dangerous as anyone else who had earned that particular honor. It was probably the cluelessness, what Ino called the "lost little boy" demeanor the artist possessed that really got her. Her habit of holding his hand in public didn't help. Truth be told, she treated him like a child (although, in her defense, it made some of the more grating aspects of his personality tolerable).

This was all occurring to her as the head of giant ink dragon—one that looked very much like the one painted upon Sai's wrist—pulled itself away from where it had molded itself against a tree for camouflage and snapped at her when she landed on a nearby branch. She lunged backward out of its way instinctively, but quickly ran out of tree. The dragon followed her as she fell, pulling itself completely away from the trunk and spiraling down after her, its jaws opened wide.

Her hands flew up in a familiar sign and with a puff of a smoke and a pop a shadow clone appeared beside her, grabbing hold of her wrist and slinging her out of the way just as the dragon charged passed. The clone disappeared an instant later and she reached into her pouch, withdrawing a handful of tagged kunai, which she threw after the beast.

She touched down briefly on the side of another tree and waited as the explosions rocked the forest. For a brief moment, everything was still, but it was only for a moment. With jaws wide open, the dragon charged up out of the smoke, parting the clouds with its long body as it flew back toward her.

Sakura swore and launched herself forward, somersaulting mid-air over the dragon's opened mouth and then pushing herself forward through the treetops, the beast changing directions to follow her.

Great, it was explosion-proof? She frowned as she glanced back over her shoulder. Sai apparently hadn't been kidding when he said the tattoo summons would be more difficult to dispatch.

She drove herself forward, narrowing her eyes as she locked onto Kakashi's chakra signature. Good. He was closer than she had thought.

Sakura dove and darted from branch to branch, zig-zagging to maintain distance but keeping the same path. It wasn't long before she spotted a familiar head of silver among a sea of orange below her. With another look back, she dropped out of the tree and charged through the crowd of Naruto clones toward her partner, startling them as she dispatched them from behind. "Kakashi!"

He turned toward her just as he slung one clone into a crowd of several others and his Sharingan went wide. She reached him and at the same time they took chakra-charged leaps upward as the dragon, which had remained hot on her heels, tore through the clones and decimated the forest floor with a crash-landing intended to take her out.

"Fire doesn't seem to have any effect," she noted as she looked around for a place to land.

Kakashi nodded, sped through a few hand signs, and then lifted two fingers to his mouth. He inhaled and then exhaled a stream of water that washed down over the destroyed forest floor below them. Almost immediately, the dragon began to thrash and flail as the ink that made up its body began to dilute under the onslaught.

They landed on the same tree branch and watched as the beast melted away into streaks of black ink against the mud and water, showing an odd sort of quasi-sentience as it still fought to reform.

"Nice technique," Kakashi murmured. "Physical assaults didn't work?"

"Are you kidding me? I didn't stick around long enough to punch it," she snorted, shifting her weight a little and pulling at her gloves anxiously. "I threw five tagged kunai at the thing and it just came back for more." She kept an eye on the creature below as she raked a hand through her hair. "You all right?"

"Fine. You?"

"The same."

There was a brief moment of silence and then he spared her a sideways look, which she mirrored.

If Naruto had seen this before he came from behind a few seconds later and shattered the branch with a heel drop, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised when both figures vanished into puff of smoke. "Damn it!"

* * *

Getting Sai within range of their assault was hard, but when Kakashi managed to lure him close to the ground by filling the air with dangerous lightning strikes, Sakura took some serious pleasure in heel-dropping (or totally ripping Naruto off, as he'd later call it) the ex-ROOT agent. The bird disappeared into a splatter of ink on contact and Sai dropped out of the air like a stone, making a nice-sized indent in the ground below.

Sakura touched down gracefully several yards away and turned sharply to watch Kakashi dart out of the earth just to her left, leaving behind a swearing and red-faced Naruto buried up to his neck. She looked from the blond to Sai and then smiled happily at Kakashi. "I believe we've won," she said as a green glow ignited along the cuts and bruises covering her arms and legs.

Naruto paused in his struggles long enough to blow a raspberry at her and Kakashi squeezed his eyes closed in a smile. "Cleanly, at that," he added. He moved toward Sai then, to check on the boy who was swaying dizzily as he struggled to sit up.

Sakura watched him and then turned and wandered over to Naruto, her hands behind her back. "So, how are you?" she asked innocently.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, all hail Team Kakashi and Sakura. Now quit gloating and get me out of here. I think there's something getting friendly with my leg down there."

She burst out laughing as she dropped to her knees in front of him. "I need to start scrapbooking moments like this," she giggled as she smoothed both hands over the grass, sending pulses of chakra down into the ground to locate his shoulders. "As keepsakes, you know? So when you're Hokage and I'm standing there in awe of you I can remember times like this… and snap out of it."

He scowled. "Have I ever mentioned those D-rank missions I'm going to give you when I'm Hokage?"

The medic grinned and then punched both fists down into the ground on either side of him, breaking up the solid earth effortlessly and freeing his arms and shoulders. She grabbed him by the front of his jacket and jerked upwards, getting to her own feet as she pulled his legs free of the dirt.

"You all right?" she asked as she dusted off his shoulders.

Naruto made a face and looked down at his leg. "A little molested, I think."

She grinned at him and then turned toward Sai and Kakashi. "So, who's up for lunch?" she asked, approaching them.

"Mah, who's paying?" Kakashi wondered, scratching at his chin as he fell in to stand beside her.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You'll just skip out on the bill anyway, what do you care? I—"

She swiftly cut herself off with a yelp as something long and inky black slithered between her legs. Reflexively she jumped and stumbled into Kakashi, who caught her easily with one hand and a light chuckle at her expense as the inky black something went straight to Sai. Naruto, of course, burst into laughter.

Sakura really tried to be _fascinated_ by how the dragon, now considerably smaller than before, coiled up Sai's arm and seemingly melted back into the scars that drew its outline. Really, _really_. It just wasn't working. At least, not enough to distract her from the arm around her waist or the fact that it felt kind of nice to have that particular arm around her waist… ugh, she was really getting stupid about this, wasn't she?

She straightened and smiled uneasily at Kakashi, patting his arm to thank him before looking to the other two (ignoring the fact that his hand lingered for just a second longer than needed and—now she was officially reading too much into things). Naruto was still laughing, but Sai was watching her in that same way she sometimes felt the ANBU guys watched her as she tended their teammates. It made her uneasy, but she pulled a smile anyway as she began tugging her gloves off. "So, Ichiraku?"

Naruto straightened immediately and threw both arms into the air. "Yeah!"

Sai opened his mouth to say something all the while still giving her that look, but the only thing to come out was a choked "_hurk_!" as Naruto slapped him on the back.

"Race ya!"

Sai glanced at Sakura and then back to the blond. "You're on."

Naruto looked to the medic and grinned. "You too, Sakura!"

"Yeah, yeah," she said, flapping a hand at them as she moved to their right and crouched a little, one leg ahead of the other. She looked to them and smiled. "Ready?"

Both nodded, staring straight forward.

"All right… go!"

They took off in blurs of orange, black, and… Sakura straightened from her crouch, inspecting a chip in her manicure.

Kakashi chuckled as he drew near, his hands in his pockets. "Letting them get a head start? Working with the dogs has improved your speed that much, huh?"

She took a feeble swipe at the side of his head, which he ducked easily. "I got chased by a dragon. I've had my workout. Besides, Naruto will beat me if I try to race him—he always beats me—and when he does he orders for me. Not happening."

He clicked his tongue at her as she lifted her hands to form a familiar seal. "Now that's just cheating," he scolded.

She spared him a sideways look. "Now, that's just the point," she said playfully (although it may have sounded an awful lot like flirting to anyone else). "Are you coming?"

"I suppose," the man said, looking upwards thoughtfully as he spoke. When his gaze turned on her, the corner of his eye lifted slightly in… amusement? Mischief? Sakura was willing to bet on the last one. "Last one there pays?"

Although, sometimes she didn't mind the mischief as he lifted his hands to form the same seal. She grinned. "Sounds fair."

They disappeared an instant later, leaving behind small whirlwinds of leaves in their wake.

* * *

His team.

Kakashi spared a glance around the table (his dish already empty after the other three had been briefly distracted by Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji-ah, nostalgia).

With them he was, dare he think, happy? It had been almost too long for him to know for sure, but the tightness in his chest and the fact that he found himself smiling for no reason at all when he was with them had him fairly convinced. It made his doubts after the war, the hesitation he had felt when Tsunade suggested resurrecting all of the old teams, seem silly now.

Because this was how things were supposed to be: Sai and Naruto on one side of the table, bickering and laughing, and Sakura beside him, taking polite, little bites of food in between conversation and issuing reprimands under the table via a swift kick to the deserving party's shins.

He had to make an effort to ignore the butterflies that assaulted him when he realized that she was spending most of her time talking to him.

He wondered if any of them had realized he wasn't reading and, if they had, was grateful that they hadn't called him out on it.

He couldn't fathom how this had begun or why he didn't feel more inclined to stop it.

"Kakashi?"

Kakashi shook himself of his reverie and looked to Sakura, tearing his eyes away from the hole he was accidentally burning into the tabletop. "Hm?"

"Am I boring you?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and canting her head to one side. "You were sort of spacing on me."

"Sorry Sakura. I was listening."

She pursed her lips and then shook her head and started in again.

He had gone to Mist trying to forget _this_ and only ended up coming back to realize how badly he had missed her and how much he liked it that she missed him. He tried telling himself that it was wrong. Even if this was just a crush (as if he were some thirteen-year-old) it wasn't appropriate as her commanding officer, as her comrade and her friend. She was so much younger than him, she was his former student, she had been broken once already and she didn't need him as tattered as he was…

Sakura smacked his knee under the table as she began to laugh at a joke that had fallen from his mouth, one he hadn't heard himself make. He watched her giggle into her water as she took a sip, admired how easily her emotions played out in her eyes and on her face...

No. Not broken.

And neither was he, he realized as a genuine smile curled over his mouth. At least not so much anymore.

* * *

Kakashi walked to Sakura's house with her and the boys and spent the next few hours reading on her couch while she and Naruto played their goofy version of shogi. He stayed later than the others while Sakura straightened everything left slightly askew by teams who had come and gone in her absence. He listened as she complained about her colleagues at the hospital and smiled when she leaned in over his shoulder to see what page he was on.

It was the same one he had been on for an hour.

She didn't need to know that.

Eventually he relinquished her sofa long after she had changed into her pajamas and sat down to do her nails. He squeezed her shoulder on his way out the door and pretended that he didn't enjoy something as simple as the way she slipped her hand over his and squeezed back.

He went home and settled down for the night in his bed with his book at hand and Pakkun on his right.

When he eventually succumbed to sleep, Kakashi dreamed of coming home to his apartment where there was another pair of boots by the door and flowers on the table. He stepped into a kitchen that still smelled faintly of dinner and checked the fridge for leftovers and smiled at the note taped to the freezer door. He shucked his shoes and went to the bedroom next where under the shuriken-printed covers laid a petite figure surrounded by a bird's nest of pink hair. He showered quietly and then slid in beside her, eager just to hold her.

And eager for nothing else.

Kakashi woke (alone) and spent an hour staring at the ceiling with both hands folded behind his head.

In the past, he had had incredibly erotic dreams that had felt so real he had woken with an uncomfortable dampness in his sweats, with his heart racing and his body still humming with phantom pleasure. However, he couldn't honestly say that any one of them had ever been so gratifying.

* * *

1. Whoo! A belated Happy New Year to my much loved readers!

2. First chapter of 2011 and... actually I'm pretty happy with it. It feels, to me, a lot shorter than it is because it really covers the span of just one day rather than several, but I'm okay with that.

3. Don't bother calling me a tease for the beginning. I know. Consider it a little bit of fanservice to apologize for how long it's taken to get anywhere.

4. On that note: I really like hearing suggestions from you guys. I like it when you offer opinions and ideas, when you give me tips and critiques. Because those things help me. Do not EVER apologize for giving them when you do. I really want to hear it. However, telling me to speed things up will be ignored, for one, and it will have me addressing your complaint out loud and that makes me uncomfortable. I've chosen this pace for a reason. You say nothing's happening... read the fic again. Lots of stuff has happened. No, there's not a running plot. I've owned to that fact _multiple times_. But if you haven't noticed, there's a relationship developing. _That's_ the focus of this story.

5. I'll be posting a link to a blog soon in my profile. It'll mostly address things in here and I'd really love it if you guys would pop in to read it once I get some stuff posted.

6. All right, serious time: The beginning and the ending of this chapter are bookends for a reason. I think I told one of my friends that "it becomes serious for buttoned-up Sakura when she starts with the intimate dreams and it becomes serious for Kakashi when he starts dreaming of a domestic life". I say buttoned-up because I see Sakura as having a pretty good handle on her hormones. She's a medic, she sees naked dudes all the time, after a while it just all starts looking the same, ya know? So, to start thinking of Kakashi THAT way? It'd be a big shift for her (well, for more than the obvious reasons). On the opposite end of the spectrum, Mr. Dirty Books probably has such dreams all the time (as well as more sexual experience that Sakura, although I stand by my assessment that he's not a man-slut). What would be more meaningful to him would be this fantasy of coming home to someone, of having that stability and life he thinks is impossible.

7. Whew, that was long-winded. Here's something shorter: Sai's tattoos! I'll admit that the whole training sequence has no point besides showing off his tattoos (and everyone's mad skilllz). I had a lot of fun coming up with that ability and its specs.

8. The haircut scene is... also extremely random. I was sort of flailing for filler and someone asked for more Team Seven interactions, so this whole chapter is kind of for them, I guess.

9. Sakura would probably, eventually, end up with that tattoo.

**(No rants this chapter, guys. Sorry. I'm a bit sleepy and trying to get this out as fast as possible before my brain completely... ... ...)**

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**(Please review. ;D Oh and remember my crack challenge!)  
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	24. In Which We Are Given Choices

**House Calls**

**Chapter 24**

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* * *

**

Okay. Someone had to be maimed. It was the only thing that'd make her feel better.

Sakura jerked on her boot with a particularly violent tug and did up the buckles with passive-aggressive sharpness. She stood from her bed, smoothing out the hem of her smock (the easiest thing she had on hand to throw on) before securing her hip pouch in place.

She had agreed to treat wounded at her house. She hadn't agreed to being dragged out of bed at three in the morning by hooded, ass-headed ANBU officers who weren't injured and who wouldn't tell her where they were taking her. Or, rather, getting dragged out of bed and bossed around by just one particular _jackass_ who she was, quite frankly, getting sick of seeing. Her orders—her _orders,_ she seethed—had been to get dressed and come. No please. No thank you.

She hoped those masks weren't expensive because she was sorely tempted to break this guy's. Of course, she had been since their first meeting.

A sharp rap on her bedroom door drew her attention, telling her, loudly and clearly, to hurry up.

Oh, yes. This guy had better _hope_ he was Neji (as she suspected). She'd forgive _him_ for the attitude because she had long ago accepted that that was just Neji, that the asshole act was a thin veneer over a very loyal, very respectable man. But if it was anyone else? Oh, there'd be some hell rained.

(There really wouldn't be, but there'd definitely be a tantrum.)

He nodded when she stepped out and then turned toward the front door without a word.

(Okay, maybe there would be hell.)

Sakura followed him through the darkened Konoha streets, over the rooftops and down alleyways, all the while doing her best to burn a hole into the back of his head with a Tsunade-style glare.

The building they finally stopped at was plain and rather innocuous, which Sakura supposed was quite the point. It wouldn't do to have a giant, neon sign over ANBU headquarters. Although, perhaps that wouldn't be so bad tactically…

She bit her tongue as she was led in through the gates and then inside the main building. The hallways were vacant except for one guard at the entrance who might have been a cardboard standee for all she knew because he was so still he didn't even seem to be breathing.

"Keep up."

Hm. Maybe she'd smack him even if it was Neji.

The hallways were positively labyrinthine and they seemed to stretch throughout the length of the entire building with no doors or signs or anything to go by. Every right and left look exactly the same. Until they reached one particular dead-end.

A part of Sakura, the very immature part, sincerely hoped that this guy had just gotten them lost because wouldn't _that_ have been hilarious?

But alas, no.

"Watch your step," he advised with a glance back at her before he took one step forward and _through_ the wall.

Sakura blinked. Oh, well of course, right? They had probably passed at least a dozen doors on their way! Rolling her eyes (mostly at herself), she took a hesitant step forward, one hand held out in front of her. It passed through up to her wrist whereupon a hand grabbed hold of her on the other side and hung on until she stepped through the illusion.

They were in a stairwell now and she stepped forward to look over the rail, whistling at the flights that spiraled down at least three floors. She turned back to her guide to make a choice, snide remark about the sheer _unexpectedness_ of an underground facility (complete with eye rolling), but stopped herself short when she saw that he had removed his mask and was now tying it to the shoulder strap of his breastplate.

"I knew it."

Neji regarded her impassively as he moved toward the steps and motioned her for to follow. "You _knew_ nothing. You had suspicions and conjectures."

"I called you out that night you brought that missing-nin to my house," she snapped, charging down the stairs after him if only so that she could keep pace beside him and glower to her heart's content.

"You called me _Hyuuga_," he corrected. "I have several relatives who are a part of ANBU and it could have been any one of them."

Sakura did roll her eyes this time. "You didn't have to be such an ass about missing-nin or when you brought Genma in," she scolded as they stepped onto a landing, turned and then began down another flight to another landing. "You've know me since we were kids. I'm not a security risk."

"It's protocol."

"To be a jerk? Doubt that."

He spared her a cool look. "In both cases the men I brought to you were critically wounded. In neither circumstance was I in a position where I thought pleasantries would have been appropriate."

She mocked his frosty stare the best that she could. "You were under a lot of pressure so you were being a pain? Fine. I'll buy that."

He rolled his eyes.

They went on in quiet for some time, their steps echoing in the empty shaft. When he did look to her next, it was to spare her a calculating, skeptical look. "You're not going to ask why you're here?"

"I was thinking it'd be kind of pointless," she replied. "I'm going to find out soon anyway, aren't I?"

He nodded, looking grateful that he wouldn't have to explain.

When they finally reached the bottom, he stepped lightly off the last step and reached out to open the door there. Sakura glanced upwards, trying not to think about how far below ground they were now before quickly slipping through the passage ahead of him.

Sakura blinked to let her eyes adjust. In comparison to the stairwell, this part of the building was very well-lit and it looked… well, it looked rather how she expected it to. Cold, stone walls and tiled floors. It seemed desolate, no doubt all the agents out on missions or at home, but the one or two men who were around—masked of course—hardly seemed to take notice of them as they passed.

Well, one did. She felt the eyes behind the unfamiliar cat-mask watching her and she paused briefly to stared back, frowning at the feeling that she should definitely know this guy…

"Haruno? This way."

She glanced back at Neji and then looked back to the Cat-masked ANBU, who had lifted a hand to his mask and tipped it up a little. Her face lit up when she recognized the sleepy-looking pair of eyes beneath.

"Behaving yourself I hope, Sakura-chan?"

"Always, Yamato-senpai," she replied happily. "So, this is where you've been hiding? I haven't see you—"

"_Haruno_."

Sakura rolled her eyes and glanced back again at Neji, who was boring a hole into her as if by sheer force of will he could get her to follow. She looked back to Yamato. "Catch up later?"

"Absolutely."

She nodded, turned, and jogged to catch up to Neji. "Impatient much?" she demanded.

Neji said nothing as he led her to the end of the hallway and indicated a door on the left. "Go head."

Sakura eyed him suspiciously for a moment and reached for the door, pulling it open, and edging inside.

It… it was comical? She couldn't decide if that was the right word. It should never be the right word when someone was gushing what could have been arterial blood, but she let out a faintly amused snort anyway and it made Morino Ibiki lift his eyes from his paperwork just long enough to acknowledge her. "Evening, Haruno," he said. "Shizune must be out of town?"

"She's on a mission, yes."

The office was Spartan in its décor, with nothing on the walls and no other seats available but the one he was currently seated in at his metal desk (which she noted was bolted to the floor). The man himself was doing paperwork, writing with his left hand while he held the right in the air as blood dripped down his arm. His trademark, long coat had been discarded and the sleeve of his shirt was rolled up to his elbow.

"Ah. Sorry about the hour," he went on, frowning as he scanned a document with his eyes and then pushed it off to the other side of the desk. "I wasn't going to bother, but the men insisted."

"Good call."

Ibiki looked up to regard the girl, who was suddenly at his side and holding his hand and studying the wound. "Why?"

"The wound's very deep. Damaged ligaments, damaged tendons," she explained, looking around for somewhere to sit. She sighed and hopped easily up onto the edge of his desk. "Interrogation gone bad?"

"Actually, it went very well," he said, watching her carefully as she began to dig around in her hip pouch with her free hand. "No drugs."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him, her hand freezing at her hip with a syringe clutched in her fingers. "I'm sorry?"

The scarred man met her gaze evenly, impassive. "I don't need drugs."

Her eyes flickered from his to the numerous scars she knew he was hiding under his bandanna and then back as she dropped the syringe into her pouch again. "All right. This shouldn't take too long."

"Have at," he replied as he turned his attention back to the files on the desk.

Sakura shook her head and set about reconnecting ligaments and frowning. She wanted to ask how this had happened but decided against it. The less she was involved with this, the better. Although, she grimaced, her time in the morgue—the numerous autopsies—had her contemplating it anyway. Large-ish knife, serrated blade…

"How long have you been a medic?"

She glanced over at him, surprised. It didn't feel right. He could figure that out just by reading her file. "Tsunade-sama began to train me when I was thirteen, so six years."

"Hyuuga seems to think you're the best."

High praise, but she was careful to keep her expression straight. "It's an opinion. Others have a few that aren't so high."

Ibiki was still scribbling, not looking at her. "I find that Hyuuga are generally objective in their observations and never quick to praise anyone."

Sakura squinted thoughtfully, pondering both his words and the fact that the angle of this injury just wasn't right (nothing about it—the circumstances, the individual involved—were really), and then shrugged. "Well, can't argue with that."

"Your record of successfully completed missions is impressive as well."

She made a face at him and leaned over to look at what was on his desk. "Is that my file or something?"

"Eyes on your own work, Haruno," he scolded, sliding the file easily out of her reach.

Sakura glared him and then turned back to his hand. Within minutes the damaged was undone and the skin was beginning to knit together nicely. But she couldn't reign in her own curiosity. Glancing at him briefly, she sent an exploratory surge of chakra into his fingertips and halfway up his arm… and promptly wished she hadn't. There were metal plates in his forearm from an old break, screws near his elbow, and countless ancient fractures in his hand as if from repeated damage… as if it had been smashed… multiple times…

She stared at his palm for some time as the skin sealed together, new and pink—something that would not last very long, she knew. "Morino-senpai?"

"Hm?"

Sakura took a breath, trying to talk herself out of this because she had already told herself she wasn't going to get involved, she wasn't going to— "The next time you self-inflict a wound… don't use a serrated edge. Straight blades make a much neater cut to heal."

Ibiki raised his eyes from his work at that and looked to her. "What makes you think it was self-inflicted?"

"What makes you think I'm stupid enough to believe that any one got a weapon in by your guys?" She held his hand up, as if giving it back to him. "You cut too deep next time and you'll sever the tendons completely."

He took his hand away from her, his expression one of amusement mixed with something else as she got to her feet. "I'll consider it," he replied. He gave her an appraising look. "Any speculation as to why?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Are we playing some kind of weird, forensics guessing game?"

"Call it curiosity."

No, she'd call it suspicious and leave it at that. "Kakashi has always held that you're a sadist so maybe you're a masochist too?" she suggested and when he didn't react she shrugged. Fine, no joking. "I'd guess it was a scare tactic. After all, if you're willing to do that to yourself, what are you going to do to your prisoner, right?" She eyed him. "Did Tsunade-sama put you up to this? Is this some kind of test?"

He chuckled, the sound surprising her because it was deep and friendly and _so_ not anything she expected to come out of this man. She knew Ibiki in passing. He was _that_ guy from the exams and _that_ guy who did horrible things to people, but he had always been polite when they ran into each other at the Tower—not necessarily _friendly_, but polite when acknowledged—it was a frequent enough occurrence that she wasn't afraid of him.

She just knew enough about his methods, about his job, to be weary.

"You started this," he reminded her.

Sakura narrowed her eyes a little and folded her arms. "Why call me?"

"I didn't."

"Why did your men call me?"

"I assume because you were available."

"The hospital's closer and full of medics."

"Yes."

She shot him an annoyed look. "What is this? Analyzing me to make sure I'm good enough to treat your men?"

"They go to you of their own volition. I have no say in that."

Sakura huffed softly and opened her mouth to say something else, but cut herself off and threw her hands up in surrender. "I'm too tired for this," she sighed, turning to make her way to the door. "If you're not up on your tetanus shot you should go to the hospital tomorrow and get one, just in case. Have a nice evening, Morino-senpai."

"Want a job?"

The medic stopped short, her hand on the doorknob, and turned slowly toward him. "I have a job," she replied.

Ibiki shrugged as he began to unroll his sleeve, sparing her a sideways look. "What do you know about ANBU?" he asked conversationally.

Sakura eyed him as she wandered slowly back over to his desk. "It's dirty business."

He grinned. "You've gotten the official explanation then. That makes it easier. I get a lot of recruits who have a pretty fuzzy view of what we do."

"Recruits?" she repeated with a blink.

"You're not field-ready yet," the man went on. "But I don't think it'd take much work before you were. I know you're not very skilled with ninjutsu, but you understand genjutsu, you're good with close-range combat, you're a medic so you're smart, quick on your feet, and can keep your cool, and you're attractive… you'd be surprised how far all of that will get you."

Sakura frowned. "I thought you only headed up torture and interrogation."

"Officially, yes."

"And unofficially?"

"Let's say I... _organize_ things around here. What do you say, Haruno? "

* * *

Kakashi would swear to a lot of things. He'd swear that he wasn't hiding anything behind his mask—masks were just extremely comfortable and he believed that in the future everyone would be wearing them. He'd swear that reading Icha Icha was absolutely necessary to keep his concentration. And he'd swear that he didn't get a little nauseous when he ran into Yamato on the street the next morning and the man told him, with no small amount of concern, that Sakura had been invited to join ANBU.

(Yamato was tight-lipped about how he knew this, but it was no secret to Kakashi that the worst gossips in Konoha were ANBU agents.)

A part of him was proud of her, ecstatic maybe. It was an honor, a level of acknowledgement he knew the woman never would think she deserved. There was no denying now that Sakura was a powerful, respected ninja.

But for the most part Kakashi just felt ill.

"Hatake."

Tsunade was scowling from behind her desk as he wandered into the office, Sakura hovering over her shoulder as they pored over the same manila folder. The medic pouted at him, put-out either by his tardiness or because he had interrupted them, he couldn't tell.

"Sorry, Tsunade-sama. Sakura. I got lost on the—"

"Don't even," they said in a single voice and it was the first thing to drag a smile out of him all day.

(That and the rather scant top Sakura was wearing in response to the hellish heat outside; summer having finally decided that it had had enough with beautiful, comfortably warm days.)

Sakura handed Tsunade a scroll from the top of a stack and then hurried around the desk to fall in beside Kakashi, smacking him lightly on the shoulder as she did so. "I was surprised by the summons this morning," he murmured to her, trying to sound casual. "I wasn't expecting another mission so soon."

"My fault," she replied, lifting a foot to adjust her sandal. "She asked me to take on a two-man mission and the boys are on leave and I needed a partner… so, hi partner."

He squeezed an eye at her happily, but it was hard. All he wanted to do was grab her by the shoulders and forbid her from doing anything stupid because he wouldn't allow it. "My partner needs more sleep," he whispered back instead, noting the tired bags under her eyes.

Sakura shushed him as Tsunade cleared her throat and leveled her gaze upon the two of them before looking back down at the scroll in front of her. "The good news is that you're staying fairly close to Fire Country," she sighed, her chin propped on her upturned palm as she swirled the ice around in a glass of water with her other hand. "Travel for this one won't be too lengthy and I'm sure you can both appreciate that in this heat. You'll be going south to the Island of Amae, you lucky brats."

A vague look of confusion crossed Sakura's features and she looked quickly to Kakashi. "Where?"

"Resort place, lots of gambling and sake," he abbreviated.

Sakura made a face and looked back to Tsunade. "Why?"

The blonde woman groped for another scroll and then threw it at her apprentice, who caught it easily. "This is where it gets sticky. A civilian family owns the island, the Harada clan, and they've turned it into a resort. However, as of late, they're having trouble with a crime syndicate threatening the businesses there as well as their clientele—some of the wealthiest people you'll find in any country."

"So… we're supposed to clean out an entire syndicate by ourselves?" Sakura asked doubtfully.

"There will be no cleaning anyone out until we get some information. The only thing you two will be doing when you get there is scouting the situation and validating their claims," Tsunade replied, sitting back with just the slightest bit of a pout on her lips that had her apprentice rolling her eyes. "You have reservations at one of the Harada hotels already."

Kakashi shot a look at Sakura that was quickly returned. He looked back to Tsunade. "And you're assigning _us_ to this? Scouting? Really?"

"They're paying good money and this mission will require more finesse than muscle, I think," Tsunade replied. "You two are probably the best I have when it comes to that… not to mention you fill a few other requirements." Another scroll was thrown, this time at Kakashi. "According to our clients, information has a tendency to get back to this syndicate and the last few people they've hired have been killed. This leakage is to such an extent that our client has not even informed his family that he has contacted Konoha. You two are skilled enough to avoid this—I would hope—and you are good at ferreting out information. For this mission you two are on vacation. You will take assumed names, you will stay at the hotel, and I will send a letter to our client informing him that his new friends are arriving on a certain day and that they just happen to have very distinct… features."

Tsunade eyed them both as Kakashi spared a look at Sakura's pink braid at the same time she glanced upwards at his silver spikes.

"Shishou," Sakura began with a suspicious look in the woman's direction. "This looks a _little_ like preferential treatment. I can't help but wonder if, with this being an island of depravity, casinos, and booze, you're not getting something… extra out of the deal."

The blonde woman smiled serenely as she placed her chin innocently upon her fist, her elbows propped on the desk. "Where I vacation this winter is none of your concern, Sakura." The smile fell quickly. "I'm done. Sakura, run these files to the hospital, Hatake… get out of my sight."

Kakashi indulged the long-suffering look Sakura shot his way with a smile and then watched carefully as she gathered the files made her way to the door. She paused briefly, as if waiting for him, but he motioned her on. The girl raised a questioning eyebrow but shrugged and pulled the door shut behind her. He turned then toward Tsunade.

"I told you: out," she said without looking up.

"Sakura—"

"Is nineteen-years-old, an exceptional kunoichi, and not your student to coddle anymore, Hatake."

Kakashi scoffed. "I never coddled her." He looked back to the woman and shifted his weight a little, his hands still in his pockets. "May I speak freely?"

Tsunade let out a long sigh and scrubbed her face with both hands before leveling him with her stare again, her expression taking on an edge that wasn't often seen. "I know the situation already."

"She's not ready for ANBU."

"Ibiki seems to think she isn't very far off."

"Ibiki doesn't know her. He read a file and you and I both know that isn't the same thing."

Honey-colored eyes narrowed and Kakashi met them lazily. While Tsunade indeed _was_ a chronic gambler and unrepentant boozehound, these truths did nothing but create a rather neat cover for an incredibly dangerous woman to hide behind. It was so unfortunate for those who thought 'gambler' meant 'pushover' and mistook 'boozehound' as being synonymous for 'flighty'. He never intended to be one of them and if anyone could see through him it would be the last remaining Sannin.

Tsunade abruptly sat back, her arms folded over her ample chest. "It doesn't matter. This is her choice and hers alone. I will not address it."

Kakashi felt himself flinch. "Please reconsider."

The woman shook her head. "I won't," she said with her voice oddly hoarse and strained in that moment. It cleared instantly, however, when she began again. "Hatake, I love that girl. As much as I want to forbid it I know that she would resent me if I didn't let her make her own decision. If you feel strongly about your opinion, you will have to speak to her yourself."

* * *

"Oh my God, you suck."

"What?"

"These ferry tickets? Yeah, this is practically a luxury liner. You _suck_."

Sakura laughed as she crawled a little deeper into her closet on her hands and knees in an attempt to locate an errant pair of heels. Without a doubt, this was the worst part of missions like this: packing. She had a Go-bag packed for every other mission. Tops, bottoms, sandals, weapons, med-pack: not a complicated list by any means. But this sort of thing? How dressed-up did she have to be to even get on the floor at this casino? How formal was the stupid _boat_ they were getting on? They were dealing with an environment full of wealthy people so they'd be expected to blend in so that required at least four sets of earrings and one or two bracelets.

It made her resent Kakashi a little too. He'd find some way to get by with that mask on and all he'd have to do is put on a nice shirt and a decent pair of slacks. The son of a bitch.

"Pig, can I borrow some shoes? I only have only one good pair of heels I can work in and the rest are murder."

"Yeah, sure, just don't get blood on them this time," Ino replied from where she laid sprawled out on the bed, reading over the mission scroll. She glanced up briefly and frowned. "Something wrong, Forehead?"

Everything, Sakura concluded as she sat back, a pair of champagne-colored heels in hand.

She was falling for one of her best friends. Asking Tsunade to place him on the mission with her had been reflexive but afterwards she couldn't stop asking herself when she had lost her mind. Seeing him at the Tower had been enough to send her heart into her throat. The dream wasn't weighing on her so heavily now, but it didn't have to when just seeing him was enough to trip her up.

Oh and the whole ANBU thing.

She had expected _something_ walking into a Tsunade's office that morning, but the woman had simply invited her out onto the practice fields for a session before they got to any real work. This left Sakura to blurt it out during their short break.

It shook her a little when Tsunade simply congratulated her and then changed the subject.

Sakura didn't need anyone making her decisions for her. She didn't need to be directed or told what to do… except a little guidance wouldn't have hurt, she thought. Ibiki had been, to her surprise, very understanding when she had told him she needed time to think. Although, she suspected that had been what he had wanted to hear.

"Uh, Forehead?"

She looked sharply to Ino and smiled. "Sorry, was just thinking over what earrings I should bring with. I'm fine."

"Yeah right, liar," the blonde girl snorted back as she rolled off the bed and moved to the dresser, where a small jewelry case sat. "You never ponder earrings that hard."

Good point. Sakura smiled despite herself and got to her feet, tossing the shoes onto the bed. "I don't know. I've got a lot going on."

"Well," Ino began, plopping down beside her with a fistful of earrings, which she proceeded to hold up each pair to Sakura's ears, "I'm here. Talk."

"Are you going to bug me for details?" Sakura grumbled.

"Of course."

"Then no."

"Oh _fine_," the other girl huffed, setting a pair of jade earrings aside. "Just give me the basics then."

Sakura considered her friend for a long moment. Well, she couldn't discuss the ANBU thing with Ino—whose big mouth was almost as legendary as Naruto's—so that left her with the whole Kakashi situation. She sighed. "Fine, but you promise not to wheedle for details?"

Ino waved a hand and threw another pair of earrings into the pile. "Yeah, yeah get on with it."

"I…" She took a breath, unable to believe that she was actually saying this. "I think I might be falling for someone."

The blonde stared at her and a muscle began to tic in her forehead as she opened and shut her mouth, wanting desperately to beg for details. Finally, she stomped a foot. "You can't do that to me, Forehead! That isn't fair!"

"You made a promise."

Sakura watched in amusement as Ino spluttered something and then got up, stomped a circle around the room and, when she was done, she rounded on her friend. "Okay," she sighed, her hands on her hips. "What's the problem? I mean, other than the fact that hell has frozen over."

The medic smiled faintly. "I don't know really," she said as Ino turned her attention on the closet and began sifting through the clothes hanging therein. "There are a lot of things. I guess… I can't tell if it's real or if I'm just… I don't know, hormonal? Crazy? Lonelier than I thought? I feel so stupid."

"Hormonal, maybe," Ino agreed. "Crazy and lonely? Well, until you start eating your own hair or something I'd rule out the first and how can you possibly be lonely? Are you _ever_ alone? I mean ever?"

"Well, no. But maybe I'm not as okay with being single as I thought. Maybe I'm just being desperate and I hate it when you start shaking your head before I can finish what I'm saying. Have I ever told you that?"

Ino smiled as she glanced back at her friend. "You're not desperate, Sakura. I mean, when we were younger we both kind of were, but not anymore. You're the painfully rational one anyway. It'd be desperate if you had a new guy every other week. The fact that you've got one now is just a miracle." She withdrew a few dresses and brought them over to the bed. "We could always do a litmus test if you want."

"Like what?"

The other girl shrugged as she returned to the closet. "I ask one question and you answer."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Fine."

Ino nodded and turned to face her friend, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned back against the closet door. "All right. The one thing you find most attractive about him—don't think, just answer."

"He's…" The rose-haired girl paused as a thousand adjectives came to mind, all of them contrasting and fighting with each other until she found herself smiling. "He's not perfect."

The blonde blinked. "Sorry?"

Sakura chewed her lip as she met her friend's eyes. "We thought Sasuke was perfect, didn't we?"

Ino nodded. "We were pretty well convinced, yes."

"Well, this guy isn't... and I don't care. I'm not either and he makes me feel better about that… about everything actually." She laughed and shook her head. "Wow. I sound _so_ stupid."

Ino, however, was smiling so widely Sakura thought her face might break. "No… you sound like you've got it bad."

That wasn't exactly what Sakura wanted to hear.

* * *

A few hours of travel to the southern border went by fast, leaving them in the port city with an hour or so to kill before the boat departed at six. Heeding Tsunade's warning with a little bit extra paranoia, they both removed what clothes might give them away as ninja before entering the city and set about finding a hotel. Once done, Sakura flirted their way into a hospitality suite so that they could change. (When Sakura leaned over the counter to explain to the concierge with a pretty smile that they just needed to freshen up quick, it was the last time Kakashi _ever_ wanted to hear her call him 'daddy'.)

"The Harada family head is greeting all of the passengers personally as they board the ferry tonight. He should recognize us then."

Kakashi wanted to listen. He did. It was just difficult to do so while focusing so hard on keeping his back to the bathroom door, which Sakura had left open as she got ready so that they could talk.

Oh, he was going miss the days when it wouldn't have even been a problem, when Sakura in a slip and doing her hair and make-up would have been no more appealing than Naruto in his boxers. Because, yes, she had always been attractive, but he had never been attracted _to_ her so he hadn't really ever cared how nice her legs really were.

(Not that he hadn't stashed that image away in the less morally scrupulous parts of his memory because he totally had.)

"Kakashi, you've been really quiet."

Good, he'd been going for that. Speaking ran the risk of doing that whole "forbidding her from taking on black-ops" thing he had been trying to avoid among other things.

Tsunade had been right. He didn't _like_ that, but it was true. If he _forbade_ her she'd lose her temper with him and _probably_ accept just to spite him… that is, if she hadn't already. Was this their last mission together? He had no delusions about her coming back to Team Seven if she had accepted; no matter what she might promise. She'd be in high demand in ANBU.

"Kakashi? Are you all right?"

"Stomach ache. Must have been bad stew at that restaurant earlier."

Sakura approached him, placing one hand against his stomach and reaching up to feel his forehead with the other. "Hm, contracting food poisoning from the greasiest little roadside dive in all of Fire Country? I wouldn't have guessed. Probably just indigestion, though. I've got something for that in my bag."

He smiled despite himself, trying to keep his eye heavenward to ignore… well, the slip was strapless and fitted like a second skin to her an did she really have to be wandering around in only that? "So, where exactly are you hiding your weapons?" he wondered in attempt to tease her and get his mind off of it.

"You worry about where your own weapons are going," she replied with a backwards glance as she crossed the room and began to rifle through her bag. "Oh and what are we going to do about your mask? Of all the things it says 'I'm totally a ninja' is probably in the top five."

He scratched at his cheek thoughtfully. "Bandages?"

"Over your mouth and everything?" she wondered. "What's the story for that? Sticking your head in a forge?"

Kakashi gave her an exasperated look (to the best of his ability at least). "Do you have any better ideas?"

Sakura shrugged and sifted around her bag a little more, removing a small first-aid kit and then approaching him with it and plopping down onto the bed beside him. After sifting through leaves of bandages she removed a folded medical mask. "What about this? It's a little more functional. We can put a patch or something over your Sharingan I guess."

He eyed her doubtfully as he turned the mask over in his fingers. "And I'm who exactly?"

"A germaphobic Cyclops?"

Kakashi scoffed at that. "A wealthy, neurotic man on vacation… you're not making my cover identities anymore."

"Would it make you feel better if you made mine?" Sakura asked with a grin. "Wife, daughter, sister—?"

"Hello, _nurse_."

It didn't shock him at all when she rolled her eyes. "Of course," she said, pulling a paper pouch from the med kit and tearing it open. "Take these for your stomach."

He accepted the pills she dropped into his hand mutely and watched her from the corner of his eye as she got to her feet and returned to the bathroom. She turned her back as she stepped into her dress and took the chance to pull his mask up over his head and replace it with the medical mask. He shot a glance Sakura's way as he tied the mask into place and smiled at the way she was checking herself over in the mirror, turning from side-to-side as she ran her hands up and down her waist and hips in a way he _totally_ didn't find distracting…

What had Sai said before? Delightfully svelte? He had to agree (and berated himself endlessly for it).

"You look nice."

It was pure self-control (and the fact that she'd think he was out of his mind) that kept Kakashi from dope-slapping himself right then. Although, the way Sakura's face brightened might have made the brief lapse into insanity worth it. "You too," she said, chewing her lip to fight a smile.

He hoped that he didn't look as pleased by that as he felt.

* * *

Sakura tended to roll her eyes a lot. It came as a natural reflex after working at the hospital and with Naruto and Sai for as long as she had. It was a defense mechanism of sorts. If she didn't do _something_ to express her irritation she'd explode and she was far too mature and grown-up now to throw the same tantrums she had when she was… well, that was a lie, but she aimed to avoid those tantrums at the very least.

She was by no means surprised to realize that she found herself doing it most often around Kakashi. For example: when he snapped on the latex gloves in her med-kit in order to play his roll "properly" her eyes nearly rolled right out of her head.

"Welcome ab—ah."

The head of the Harada family was a handsome middle-aged man with sharp features and the same kind of air that Sakura usually associated with just about _every_ member of the Hyuuga family with the exception of Hinata. Judging by the slight raise of his eyebrow he had recognized them and was... skeptical at best.

Sakura smiled. "Greetings from Leaf," she said sweetly.

The dock was so packed with people, both tourists boarding the ship, deckhands, fisherman, and a myriad of civilians trying just to get through that there was no reason to worry about anyone overhearing above the cacophony.

He nodded and Kakashi guided Sakura to take the stairs ahead of him, keeping his own hands behind his back to avoid touching the rails.

"How many hours to the island?" she asked over her shoulder.

"Three," he replied as they reached the deck and stepped into a crowd of mingling passengers.

Sakura opened her mouth to reply when a passing wait paused and offered them glasses of champagne, which she accepted with a happy smile. "Wow," she murmured as the waiter disappeared. "I think this already beats every mission I've taken in… ever."

Kakashi made a faintly amused sound close to her ear as he guided them through the crowd and around the outer edge of the dance floor. "Don't let it spoil you."

"Oh no worries," she replied. "It won't be long before I'm roughing it again, I know."

They got settled at the bar, where Sakura amused herself with people watching as the crowd steadily thickened. For the most part, they blended well. Even in a crowd of so many obviously wealthy people, they were passable. She was merely supposed to be a nurse and men were bastards and could look however they wanted so Kakashi's messy hair and slumped shoulders could be easily dismissed.

She spared a glance in his direction and looked away again as she took a sip from her champagne. He was acting so strange. Well, for him. Getting him to talk had been like pulling teeth all the way there and while he was never chatty by any means he was at least a _little_ talkative.

Honestly, she probably wouldn't have even noticed if she hadn't wanted so badly for the distraction from her own thoughts. It was beginning to unnerve her, actually.

The silence stretched on between them even as the boat launched and they set off for the island, even as music began to play behind them and the party started. It went on until Sakura finally, _finally_ cracked.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

She traced the lip of her glass with her fingertip, drawing a high note out of the thin glass. "You're not mad at me for something, are you?"

His eye narrowed in confusion and he turned slightly toward her. "What makes you think that?"

"You're being a little quieter and little more broody than usual," she replied, proud that she sounded a lot more offhand than she felt because oh gods did this constitute as being clingy and paranoid? That was pathetic enough when actually _in_ a relationship.

Kakashi hesitated. "I've… just had a lot on my mind."

"Oh." Sakura frowned a little, thumbing the stem of her glass. "Can I help somehow?"

"I don't know."

Her frown deepened and she turned toward him. "I want to help if I can. I mean, maybe if you at least got it off your chest you'd feel better." She paused and shook her head. "I'm sorry. I guess I can't help butting in. You're my friend after all and… and I'm just inherently nosy."

She hoped very privately that she hadn't _actually_ choked on the word 'friend' and that that had just been a part of her imagination. Oh this was going to so suck. She'd be _amazed_ if she got through this mission without making a complete ass of herself.

It felt like hours later when he raked a hand back through his hair and spoke. "Sakura?"

"Hm?" She straightened a little, tearing her eyes away from the crowd.

"What did you tell Ibiki?"

Wha—oh. _Oh_. Sakura dropped her eyes instantly to her lap, fiddling with her bracelet. "I haven't given him an answer." His eyes were on his drink, which she found herself grateful for as she took another sip of hers and willed the alcohol to kick in. "I was going to tell you. I just needed some time to myself to think first. How did you—?"

"Doesn't matter." He still wasn't looking at her. "How's that working out?"

"I've come to the conclusion that I don't know what to think," she replied. "Anything to offer?"

He shrugged. "It's a big deal to be accepted."

Sakura shook her head. "I wasn't accepted," she replied. "Ibiki says I still have a long way to go."

"You're as good as in." Kakashi shot her a sideways look that might have been amused, but there was something else there, something almost wistful. "What do _you_ want, Sakura?"

The medic shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I want…" To be objective. To make the choice she wouldn't regret. If she said 'no' would she get another chance? If she accepted would she ever get out? She let out a quiet laugh and looked back out into the crowd. "I want someone to tell me what to do."

His shoulders seized at that and he turned toward her. "You don't mean that."

"Actually, I kind of do," she replied. "I can't think. I'm scared out of my mind and flattered beyond belief and I don't trust myself to make the right choice."

His hand suddenly came down over hers on the bar and Sakura immediately snapped to attention (putting her whole being into the effort of not shivering at the way his thumb traced her knuckles, even with those stupid gloves in the way). She frowned when he took a breath as if to speak and then faltered.

Kakashi gave her hand a squeeze and then pulled his away and turned back to his drink. "Go with your gut."

Talk about anticlimaxes. Sakura couldn't even argue because just then a man appeared beside her—Harada.

"Are we enjoying ourselves?" the man asked politely.

She stared at Kakashi for a second longer before looking to the client and offering a pretty smile as the Copy-nin beside her lifted two fingers in a salute. "Very much, Harada-san," she replied.

Harada smiled and looked back over his shoulder to the empty dance floor. "It would seem that the crowd requires someone to follow," he said humorously before turning back to Sakura and offering a large hand. "Would the young lady care to dance?"

Sakura spared another look Kakashi's way and then smiled. "Of course."

She laid her clutch down on the bar beside Kakashi's arm and then took Harada's hand, allowing the man to lead her out onto the floor.

* * *

1. Love you guys, you're the best, etc etc.

2. Whew... definitely one of the longest chapters I've done in some time. Let's mix it up and have the notes relate to the chapter... ya know. For once.

3. I think I mentioned before that I love Ibiki. I might have mentioned it several times, I'm not quite sure. At any rate, I feel I need to explain my spin on him... and I don't know if I can. I know he's portrayed often as a through and through sadist or asshole and unlike other characters I can't really argue when people wash him in that light because one of the few things we know about him is that he heads up the Torture and Interrogation unit. Kakashi even describes him as a sadist in canon, I think. However, I tend to think of him this way: You know how to break people down, you know the right words to twist and buttons to push so that they tell you EVERYTHING. I can't imagine you start off LIKING that about yourself (well... not usually, I guess), but you have two options. Either A. You do the job but hate yourself for it and go all emo and dye your hair or B. You let a little part of yourself ENJOY it out of self-defense. No, it can't be easy being THAT guy, but someone has to do it.

4. ... Did I just make Ibiki and anti-hero? ... Huh.

5. Oh the denial and drama! And Ino. I mean, when drama comes to a party, it has to bring Ino or she gets all offended and hurt.

6. Mission! Someone called for more action and I thought, "Huh, sounds like a good idea." I know we just got back to formula with the house call part of House Calls, but... yay Adult Disneyland! (... That sounds almost like it should be said accompanied by some hip-thrusting.)

7. But backtracking a little: Oh I told myself in the very beginning that I was never going to do anything with Sakura being invited to join ANBU. I recall even making a note of it. But here it is. I'm making it sound like Sakura's about the only female in her generation capable of joining ANBU, but here's my logic (yeah, that's what I'm calling it): Ino might join under the interro-squad but I can't see her taking actual missions. She's not supposed to be very good at hand-to-hand combat and I can't help but think that'd come up. Hinata is busy with her clan and let's not pretend that Neji wouldn't stab someone for suggesting her. And then there's Tenten and... honestly I have no good way of explaining her away. She and Sakura would probably make a pretty awesome pair in ANBU. Go girl power.

8. You will note however that Ibiki isn't really talking about using Sakura in the capacity of 'medic' as much as "talented, extraordinarily empowered girl with a good head on her shoulders who happens to be a medic". I stand beside my assessment that ANBU is probably far more given to intelligence gathering, dirty dealing, and ninja-like activities than waging warfare. A medic wouldn't have a place in that sort of organization. However, an attractive woman who can handle her own in hand-to-hand combat, who is skilled in identifying illusions and getting around them, and who is trained to notice details? Sounds about right.

9. NO bitching about Sakura not being able to make her mind up. I think she's perfectly justified in wanting to revert to being a little girl who just followed orders. But seriously, talk about dangling the carrot of hope in front of Kakashi by basically inviting him to do exactly what he spends all chapter wanting to do. Ah, but Kakashi... Tsunade had a point, didn't she? Damn the woman for making sense and being the reasonable authority figure.

10. Hi Yamato! It's about time you made a cameo! Although, I honestly think he'll bite it before the end of the manga. By the way, wtf is this shit with Madara having the (huge spoiler, but those of you who have read that far know what I'm talking about probably)...? I don't... I'm incoherent right now. Somewhere being rage and incredulity I lie spluttering and trying to figure out just what Kishi is going to pull out of his ass next. Is Shikamaru going to wake up in the Academy at some point, having fallen asleep during class, and we find out that the whole series was all just a dream? Oh, but no! He's seen the future and now the series is about him trying to change things only to realize he can't and O THE ANGST! (I DARE someone to write that fic.) Is someone going to run onto the battlefield at some point with a machine gun? Who is so shocked that Kishi didn't bullshit some way of resurrecting Jiraiya too? His body lies too deep in the ocean for Kabuto to reach without getting crushed by the pressure? Since when did LOGIC come to play in this series? You're doing eye transplants with non-compatible DNA! What is this reason of which you speak?

11. This is why I gave up on the series. I read ABOUT what's happening so I'm kind of caught up, but at some point with this series Kishi is going to shove his head so far up his own ass that it comes out of his mouth and I don't want to be around to witness it.

**(All right, I'm spent. Review please!)**

12. Oh and after thought: Neji is our cantankerous ANBU. I was going to leave it un-unveiled but what the hell right? Quick poll: Who did you think the cantankerous ANBU guy was? **  
**


	25. In Which We are Exasperated

**House Calls**

**Chapter 25**

**

* * *

**

"I'm grateful to you for arriving on such short notice. Please understand that you have my full cooperation even though it seems that I have tied your hands."

Sakura smiled. "We understand the reasons for the conditions you have placed upon us," she said. Their proximity, their low tones, and the volume of the musicians playing ensured no one would overhear them, although she doubted if anyone present was a security risk. "Besides, you've hardly tied our hands. People tend to have their guard up when they know they are being observed. We stand a better chance of being effective this way."

Harada nodded, but even then his gaze had wandered to somewhere over her shoulder. To Kakashi, she realized. "Your friend seems…?"

The loss for words was completely understandable.

"He's a little eccentric, but he's very, very good at what he does ," Sakura said. "Trust me." She offered him another smile, this one more reassuring before she swiftly changed the subject. "So, what do you know of this syndicate?"

"Not very much," he admitted and right then she knew that there was something else that was troubling him. "They have been running a protection racket. They threaten the businesses and families working on our island with 'consequences' if they are not paid. They are credible enough as a threat to frighten most of their chosen victims into silence and those who have seen them can't seem to properly describe them. We have hired mercenaries with hopes of driving them off, but as you must have heard they've been very effective in… ridding themselves of that hassle. I… I am afraid this is where we come to the crux of it."

"Which is?"

Harada took a breath as he glanced about at the couples close to them, making certain that they were to near as to overhear what he was going to say. "Two nights ago, my niece was taken."

Sakura really should have seen that coming. "By the syndicate?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"She was taken from an onsen at the hotel my family owns. A note was left in her place explaining the consequences of being uncooperative." His tone was even and calm. She could tell that he was distressed by the tension in his shoulder beneath her palm and the way he gripped her hand, but his step never faltered as he continued to lead her around the dance floor. This was a level of composure that even some ninja could only dream of achieving. "It stipulated that she will be returned to us for a certain price."

Sakura let this sink in as they turned a few more rotations, her feet moving in sync to his with the same unconscious anticipatory movements that aided her during a spar. "Are you able to pay this amount?"

"Easily."

"And you are willing to make the exchange?"

"Absolutely."

She glanced back at Kakashi and he perked, watching her now with a particular sort of intensity as if he could sense her unease. "It would be best if either I or my partner were the ones to perform the transaction," she said. "It could be our only opportunity to observe these men up close. We'll go from there."

Harada nodded. "Very well."

The song ended and Sakura stepped away from the man, politely bowing before turning away, moving toward the bar to rejoin Kakashi. To her surprise however, the man met her half-way across the floor and without a word exchanged between them she accepted the hand he offered her and laid her other upon his shoulder as his cupped the dip of her waist. They fell into step with the slow waltz and she made a mental note: Kakashi could dance. That was a thousand things at once... a thousand things she really, really shouldn't have been thinking about him.

"You should know," she began, her forehead just level with his collarbones, "That we _are_ going to finish what we started before Harada-san interrupted us."

After a prolonged moment of contemplating this, she felt Kakashi nod. "Fine, but business first," he agreed. "Fill me in. What are we dealing with here?"

"Missing-nin, I think," she replied, laying her head against his shoulder. Funny. Even on this sort of mission he didn't wear any kind of cologne. Must have been a force of habit. "It explains the secrecy they manage to operate under, how they've managed to remove so many mercenaries without much trouble at all, and, according to Harada-san, no one can remember how to describe them even when they've met face-to-face."

"A genjutsu," Kakashi murmured, sounding intrigued. "Anything else?"

"Well, things are a little more complicated than we initially thought."

"Ah. Of course they are."

* * *

The island itself was beautiful, covered in the same lush greenery seen throughout Fire country. The streets were lined with resorts, shops, and casinos that ascended the slope of the island and even though the sun had long set, the streets and storefronts were all lit and packed with people. This was fortunate as it allowed them to simply disappear in the crowd.

Kakashi admired the view from the balcony of his room while calculating how far down of a drop that was, which was the nearest rooftop to escape to should the need arise, and so on while he sipped at a glass of rice wine. A bottle of the stuff and a gift basket of fresh fruit had been waiting on the sideboard in the kitchenette upon his arrival in the suite. He had no doubt that Sakura had found something similar in hers. The odds were good that this would top her "Best Missions Ever" list for a long time. It was certainly the nicest place he had stayed in recent memory.

He took a slow breath. Sakura. His first intentions had been to use this time with her to refocus on the fact that she was his friend, someone he saw as an equal, and a person he respected and admired. If he could just remind himself of his priorities, he could straighten this out and forget it.

Except that plan was backfiring in a really spectacular way.

Sakura was his highly intelligent, skilled, and revered friend, who he didn't need to babysit in a fight, who he could trust with everything, who he genuinely enjoyed being around because she made him really and truly happy in a way he hadn't been for some time. Or, possibly, ever.

Yeah, definitely backfiring.

Kakashi rubbed tiredly at his forehead. He wasn't sure how much longer this could keep up before he did something stupid, because try as he might to convince himself that he was delusional, Sakura was… well, there were "vibes".

The Copy-nin had been all over the world, had known women who threw themselves at the chance to have a shinobi for the night, and had been with a few of them as well. He knew what it felt like when a woman wanted him and Sakura was making more than a few signals. Whether she knew this or not was the real question. A kunoichi she might be, but a seductress? He had watched her stumble through seductions in the past in order to isolate individual targets and found it fortunate that their marks always thought she was just being demure.

He took another sip, willing the alcohol to burn that all away.

Several minutes passed before the soft shuffle of feet on the carpet inside and the quiet click of the door as it shut alerted him. He looked to the sliding door as he replaced his mask and a moment later, Sakura peeked out. "What are you doing out here?" she asked with a frown

He shrugged. "It's a nice view."

The woman hummed in agreement and moved to perch herself on the railing. She had changed, trading her cocktail dress for a white bathrobe while her hair had been taken down from its extravagant knot and was now pulled over one shoulder in a messy braid.

"I was just talking to Harada-san. Another note was left at the front desk about ten minutes ago."

Kakashi hummed. "They knew he was back then? So they have eyes on the dock."

"On the dock, but not the boat?"

"They wouldn't risk getting caught. There'd be no where for them to run out there on the water. What did the note say?"

"They set the time for the exchange," she replied, looking down at her lap and then reaching out to him.

Without questioning it, he handed her his glass. "Tonight?"

"Two hours." She took an experimental sip and then licked her lips appreciatively. "I should go alone, shouldn't I?"

Kakashi nodded. "We don't know anything about them _except_ that they're careful. It's probably safe to assume they'll be watching," he replied. "Where is the exchange happening?"

"There's a park on the island's North side between the downtown and the residential areas."

"Secluded?"

"At that time of night? Yes."

He grimaced and held a hand out to take his glass back. "I won't be able to go with you," he said, "But I will be as close as I can be. If anything happens, I'll be there."

Sakura nodded. "Sounds good."

He glanced at her as he brought the drink to his lips again. She was staring thoughtfully down at the street below them, the lights reflecting in her eyes. He took a hesitant step closer and lowered himself to sit on the rail opposite of her. "I..." He hesitated, really not wanting to say it, because the words were all wrong. "There's testing before you enter ANBU. I can help you prep. Ibiki probably has a tutor in mind, but I... wouldn't mind." He shot her a quick look and just as quickly averted his eyes again as he shrugged. "Whatever you want."

She smiled, but it wasn't quite as sincere as he was used to. "Thanks," she replied. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked down at her hands, inspecting her manicure. "I suppose now wouldn't be the time to talk about that."

Kakashi shrugged. "There isn't anything to talk about."

"Except that you didn't really say what you wanted to say." The medic shot him a sideways look, her smile widening a little. "Kakashi, I tell you everything that's on my mind sometimes whether your want me to or not, especially where it concerns your business… feel free to return the favor."

"I meant it," he protested, squeezing an eye at her.

Sakura spared him that same bored look that Tsunade frequently employed when he started making excuses. "I didn't say you didn't _mean_ it. I said it wasn't what you _wanted_ to say." She looked back to the crowded streets below. "How are we going to approach the rest of this mission? The usual method of investigation won't work; we'd give our identities away."

He took a breath, glad that she had opted to change the subject to something he was infinitely more comfortable with—work. "We'll deal with the situation at hand first. After tonight we'll know what we're dealing with."

"All right, but let's say we manage to find one of these guys… then what?"

Kakashi looked upward thoughtfully. "Well, one of us should probably approach them and since I've never really taken to shaving my legs…"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Where would we be if I didn't have breasts?"

This dragged a chuckle out of him and he returned the playfulness by lifting his glass toward her. "To breasts."

_"_Ugh, _men."_

* * *

Sakura dressed as inconspicuously as she could manage for the exchange, looking as civilian as possible in a plain, gray yukata and sensible sandals. The small knife tucked out of sight into a garter around her right thigh wasn't important. And the heavy travel bag of money hanging from her left shoulder could be ignored. Kind of.

Fine, she looked civilian-ish at best, but that was good enough.

The medic scanned the tree line on either side of the stone path carefully. It definitely wasn't a bad location for this. The possible escape routes were numerous and with so many places to hide, it was difficult to tell just how alone she was.

"Who are you?"

The voice didn't startle Sakura—she had heard the approach a second before—but she stiffened at the strong whiff of blood that reached her nose. Anxious, she bit at the inside of her cheek as she slowly lifted her hands into the air. "Sasaki Mai," she said as coolly as possible. "I'm a nurse."

"I don't care what you are. What the hell are you doing here?"

She took a breath and glanced heavenward for patience. A part of her couldn't help but wonder how much easier this would be if she could just knock him out cold and then threaten to throw him out a window if he didn't tell her everything. It was probably a part that would really enjoy ANBU, actually. "I'm on retainer for the Harada family," she began instead. "Given the emotional strain situations such as this place upon the people closest to them, I advised Harada-san that it would be better for an impartial party to come tonight. Being that I'm also a medical professional, my immediate presence will allow for a quicker assessment of Eri-san's possible injuries."

"My feelings are a little hurt that the old man didn't trust us." He chuckled at this, clearly anything but hurt. "Whatever. Turn around."

She did so, slowly so as to not startle, and, to her confusion, found herself facing a man maybe Kakashi's age. He was tallish and handsome if rather generically so with dark hair and rows of straight, white teeth that he bared at her in an overly pleased sort of smirk.

Sakura did not smile back. He was holding the slender, red-headed Harada Eri in front of him like a shield, one his arms around her waist and the other twirling a serrated butterfly knife deftly between his fingers. The front of her plain yukata was covered in blood as was the rag she held wrapped around her right hand. She looked perhaps a year or two younger than Sakura herself, an effect exaggerated by her tear-stained cheeks and the way she was anxiously chewing her lip.

"You have the payment then?" he asked.

The medic shifted her eyes to him again and then pointed down at the bag resting against her hip. "It's here," she said. "Eri-san, is your hand all right?"

"It won't kill her," the man cut in before Eri could reply. "It's just a small reminder to the old man. We don't like having to hurt pretty girls but sometimes you got to get a point across." He shrugged easily and then gestured with the knife. "You put the money down, I'll let go of the girl. We circle each other. Sound good?"

Sakura nodded slowly and shrugged the strap off her shoulder, letting the heavy bag fall to the sidewalk. The man stepped away from Eri, whispering something to the girl and winking and taking a step to Sakura's right, prompting her to move left.

"So, I don't suppose you're single?" he wondered aloud with a sideways glance. "A gorgeous thing like you couldn't be."

She hoped that it was too dark for him to see the way she clenched her fists. "Don't even try it."

"Aw, c'mon. It isn't the whole kidnapper thing, is it? That's just business. I'm a nice guy when you get to know me."

She had the feeling that he meant "know" in that more archaic and skeezy sense and her fist tightened. "Your presence is no longer needed here," Sakura replied as she reached Eri and wrapped a firm arm around the girl's shoulders. "Take your money and leave."

He lifted his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. I can take a hint," he bent down to pick up the bag and then grinned at her as he was turning away. "Later, beautiful."

Sakura watched him as he deviated from the footpath and then disappeared into the shadows of the trees. She waited for several moments to ensure that he was gone before finally turning to Eri, guiding the girl to the ground as she began to unravel the rag from around her hand. "Tell me what happened," she began. "Are you hurt anywhere else? Did they touch you"

"No." Eri stared at the medic. "Who are you really?"

"A friend," Sakura said simply as she pulled the towel away at last and pursed her lips at the realization that the girl's ring and pinkie fingers had been severed at the first knuckle. She glanced at the girl. "Did they do this?" She indicated the long strip of cloth wrapped tightly around her wrist and hand to compress and restrain the bleeding.

Eri let out a rough sounding laugh. "I did," she whispered. With her other, shaking hand she reached into the fold of her yukata and removed a folded and blood-soaked kerchief, which she held out to Sakura. "Can you fix it?"

Sakura took the handkerchief with some hesitation and unfolded it, revealing the dismembered appendages. She blinked, first at the disembodied fingers and then at the girl in front of her. "I think so, yes," she replied. She folded the kerchief again and then helped Eri to her feet. "C'mon. It'll be more sanitary if we do this at the hotel."

* * *

Sakura couldn't honestly say that she had ever had a nice chat with someone while reattaching their fingers. Or while reattaching anything for that matter. It was usually a pretty grisly process that didn't give itself to casual conversation. Then again, when the subject was the sort of person who could pick up their own amputated fingers, wrap their own tourniquet, and was high on three different high-potency pain-killers, maybe that's exactly what the situation was given to.

"My grandmother was the doctor in a small village in Wind Country before she met my grandfather," Eri was saying as she reclined in the lounge chair, her head turned away from the sight of Sakura prepping her hand to reattach the fingers. "He was the wealthy one." She smiled sleepily. "They were a strange couple. Grandmother _hated_ how he lived, hated being some rich man's wife, but she loved him. I suppose she taught me what she knew as a means of passing the time."

"That's how you knew to stop the bleeding?"

"Mm-hmm." She let out a high, sleepy giggle as she closed her eyes, but a moment later they popped open wide again. "It was very wise of my uncle to send you."

"Yes," Sakura agreed, patting the girl's arm. "Eri-san, the shot I gave you is just doing its job so go ahead and sleep. I'll wake you when I'm done."

The girl barely managed to nod before her eyes rolled back into her skull and her head slump against the back of the chaise. Sakura reached then for the ice bucket on her right and removed the first carefully cleaned and prepped phalange that was wrapped separately from the other in a thick washcloth.

"That just looks wrong."

She smiled faintly but didn't turn to acknowledge Kakashi as he slipped into the room. "I hope you're not telling me this grosses you out."

"I'm not, but it does," he replied. He drew closer until he stood just a few paces behind her, apparently not letting what little squeamishness he felt about the situation keep him at bay. "I talked to Harada-san. The family will want to see her when you're done, but I made it clear that you'd need a few hours just for appearances. You _can_ reattach them, can't you?"

Sakura spared him a wry look over her shoulder. "As many times as I've shoved yours and Naruto's intestines back into place, a few amputated fingers shouldn't be a problem."

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "I wasn't questioning your capability; I was questioning how salvageable they were."

"Fingers are actually remarkably durable." A green glow ignited around her hands as she began to align the bone. "You lose a larger appendage and it has to be reattached as soon as possible because the larger the muscle involved the quicker it dies… well, assuming you don't die of blood loss first. Fingers can be reattached even after a few days, though."

He nodded slowly and went quiet.

Sakura frowned a little as she felt the first beginnings of the bone knitting together. "Are you worried about something?"

"Just thinking," he replied.

She looked to him skeptically but then shook her head, turning her attention back onto her work. "How did you explain how we got involved?"

"I didn't. Harada-san said that we were involved friends from Fire Country; that we had experience in 'security'. They didn't question it."

The medic scoffed softly. "They will later."

"I don't know about that. They're scared so they're not thinking right. Just like these men want them to be."

"Can you blame them? We're clearly dealing with something a little more serious than the average group of thugs and they've been living with this for how long?"

"I know." A pause and Sakura felt his attention turn on her. "What's on your mind?"

Sakura chewed her lips anxiously, her eyes focused on her work even as she spoke. "If I'm face-to-face with one of those men again, I don't think I'll be able to let him walk away. You know they're targeting this place just because they can. They're abusing their power as shinobi. I mean, I know that's what missing-nin _do_, but it just… I can't stand it."

"I know," he murmured, rubbing at his temples as he took up a chair in her line of sight. "Speaking of missing-nin… you can't give a description either, can you?

She sighed, wanting so break something. Actually, it made her want to break a lot of things. Eri had been similarly frustrated as they raced her back to the hotel, unable to give them even the vaguest of details about any of the men she had seen. "You know what the worst part is?" she asked, letting a breath hiss out from between her teeth. "It's like trying to find the right word and you _know_ what it is and it's just sitting at the very tip of your tongue and you just can't remember it. I _know_ that I know what he looks like. I could tell you what he was wearing, I just… I'd never know _him_ if I saw him again. It's just gone."

"Must have been a part of the genjutsu," Kakashi murmured.

"It seems to affect the brain's ability to recognize faces." She glanced over at him. "It's a little more subtle of a trick, that way; I didn't even really realize it until after we got back. It's probably even pretty simple to pull off."

The Copy-nin scrubbed a hand through his hair as he leaned back into the seat, his head tipped so he could stare at the ceiling. A moment later he lifted his head again to look at her directly. "All right, since we're certain that we're up against ninja, we'll have to work fast. The longer we're here, the more likely it is that we'll be exposed."

Sakura nodded. "We already know that Harada-san is being watched. Is it possible that they're close enough to the family to be the reason for the information leak as well?"

"It's possible, but if they are I have to wonder if it's someone _in_ the family," Kakashi replied.

"No way," the medic argued. "Who would let _this_ happen to their own relative?"

"Don't play naïve, Sakura." He shrugged as she spared him a dark look. "Maybe they were threatened too and they didn't have a choice or maybe they underestimated who they were working with and didn't anticipate this. But it is worth keeping in mind that this family is sitting on a fortune that would make some daimyo envious and money does strange things to people."

Sakura glanced over at him and then let out a long breath. "Fine, but how are we going to look into that without tipping them off?"

Kakashi hummed as he spared a speculative look around the room with its opulent furniture and high ceilings. "I suspect that we're going to get very acquainted with the cleaning crew soon."

"Oh, _wonderful_."

* * *

Sakura had some pretty humorous little anecdotes to go along with most of the medicinal mixtures she carried with her on a regular basis, as they were her own personal brews. She had select few willing guinea pigs anymore (Naruto, Kiba, and Lee for the most part), but there were others she had gotten to go along with her once or twice.

A couple of the more memorable occasions had been when she made Kankuro's legs go numb (a sedative she had concocted for Gaara in the testing phases) and the time Ino had lost her voice for almost a week (a really botched antihistamine). Although neither, in retrospect, had been so bad. Watching Kankuro make death threats from the floor had made an otherwise really boring day in Suna bearable and Shikamaru had bought her flowers out of gratitude in the latter case (to Ino's very quiet rage).

But analgesics were trickier to figure out. Not only did pain tolerance vary widely, especially among shinobi, but so did definitions of pain. One of her most potent personal mixtures that bordered on an anesthetic and that seemed to treat just about every ache imaginable, had a few… well, consequences. One being a certain degree of retro and anterograde amnesia.

In the shinobi world this tended to present a few problems, especially with ninja returning home and needing debriefing but also requiring medical attention. However, in Eri's case it was probably something of a blessing.

Sakura took some comfort in the fact that Eri wouldn't remember much of her experience or the surgery that followed. She would possibly remember being taken but everything that else would be lost. This worked in hers and Kakashi's favors to a degree as well because there wasn't a doctor on the planet who could reattach _any_thing in a hotel room (without medical ninjutsu at least). But her family didn't know the extent of her injuries and if Eri couldn't remember, well, stitching together a few lacerations only required a bit of know-how and a needle. The bandage wrapped snugly around her hand would hide the fact that there weren't any stitches to be seen and the girl herself would be healthier not remembering the gory details.

"Eri?"

Sakura glanced up from where she was seated beside the young woman's bedside, closing her orange, paperback and sliding it under her thigh. She had moved the girl after finishing with her hand to her own bedroom, dressed her in a clean robe provided by a maid, and then laid her down to rest.

A girl, maybe fifteen or sixteen, was peeking in through the door, her white-blond hair falling in curls around her round face and large, doe-eyes. Sakura smiled. "You can come in, if you'd like, but she'll be asleep for some time yet."

She took this invitation immediately, pushing through the door and rushing to Eri's bedside. Sakura looked to the doorway again as a young man stepped in a moment later. He had similarly colored hair cropped close to his head and was wearing a pair of thick-rimmed glasses that made his narrow, green eyes appear all the more-so. Handsome, but stiff and, if the condescending look he gave Sakura was anything to go by, more than a little haughty.

"I'm Harada Aika; it was my father that hired you," the girl said, drawing the medic's attention. "You must be Sasaki-san?"

"Yes." Sakura smiled back. "It's good to meet you."

"Is Eri going to be all right?" Aika wondered, lifting her cousin's bandaged and delicately kissing the back of it.

Sakura's gaze had drifted back to the young man, who was still eyeing her. "Yes. Her injuries weren't severe." She narrowed her eyes a little and tipped her head to the side. "I'm sorry. We haven't been introduced. I'm Sasaki Mai."

He nodded. "I'm aware of that."

"Don't be so rude, Jin!" Aika scolded. She huffed irritably. "This is my brother. _Ignore_ him."

Jin shot his sister an annoyed look and then moved closer to stand over Eri's bed. "If you don't mind my asking, what qualifications do you have as a doctor?"

A muscle twitched in Sakura's jaw. "Plenty, I assure you."

"Hn." He lowered himself onto the edge of Eri's bed. "I hope you don't mind, but in the morning one of our family's doctors will be in to examine her. They're more familiar with her."

Seeing as there was no possible way to be more familiar with the human body than Sakura (barring all implications made by perverting that phrase), she got the distinct feeling that she was being snubbed. Oh yes, she decided as her eyes narrowed, she wasn't going to like Harada Jin.

"Harada-san, I've attended to all of her wounds and I intend to continue attending to her until she is fit." All said through the most pleasant smile imaginable. Tsunade would have been proud.

Jin sneered at her. "Sasaki-san. May we speak in the hallway?"

"Yes. Let's."

Aika was oblivious to the tenseness in the exchange or the way the pair rose from their respective seats and walked to the doorway.

Sakura's smile fell immediately as she turned to face the young man, who was pulling the door shut behind him even as he glared at her in turn. "I hope there isn't a problem," she began, placing her hands on her hips.

"Not at all. I'm sure you're very... competent." He shrugged easily and looked away. "I just would prefer to call one of our family doctors as I intend to have you and your partner off this island by morning."

"Oh?"

Jin leveled her with a bored look. "My father is a fool. He _could_ pay these men to leave, but instead he refuses to swallow his pride and keeps hiring people like _you_ clear out this problem all the while ignoring the fact that this might eventually get one of us killed. I should have thought Eri's capture would have convinced him of that, but you must understand that the Harada skull is amazingly _thick_."

Hm… yeah, suspicious much? If Kakashi was determined to look into the family, Sakura knew where _she_ was going to start. "First of all, I believe your father hired us before Eri-san was taken. It was just luck that we arrived when we did. Secondly, I appreciate where you're coming from, but my partner and I will not be leaving until we've finished our business here." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Unless, of course, you'd like me to discuss this little problem with your father and I'd be more than happy to do so."

Jin stared back at her blankly. "There will be no need for you to go. I intend to talk to him myself."

"Oh good," Sakura replied. "Will you be staying with Eri-san tonight?"

"Most likely, as Aika will be staying with her."

"Very well. I'll see you in the morning."

* * *

"He _really_ rubbed you the wrong way."

"What tipped you off?"

"It's three in the morning, you should be exhausted from that healing, but you want to spar instead?"

"Just wondering. Sometimes you can be so obtuse I wonder if it's _really_ an act."

Kakashi opened his mouth to retort, but found himself cut off when Sakura lifted him up (something that always felt pretty emasculating until he reminded himself that thiswas his teammate and that her ability to lift men twice her size was a _good_ thing) and suplexed him into the floor. He coughed and cracked open an eye to look at her as she leaned over him. "Feel better?"

Sakura huffed and swiped a stray lock out of her face before letting her head come to rest against his chest. "Yeah, I think."

"Good." He took a breath and closed his eyes again. "So, what did he say that got you so riled up?" Because he planned to damn well avoid it in the future if he could. Although, this was kind of nice. Kind of really nice.

She shook her head. "He's just a snotty rich boy who doesn't understand that money can't buy him out of this sort of trouble. It's just frustrating that I can't tell him that." She paused and Kakashi heard the distinct sound of teeth grinding. "That and he questioned how fit I was to treat Eri-san."

"Ah," he murmured with understanding. "I'm sure if he knew that you just reattached two of her fingers, he'd take that back."

Sakura hummed back noncommittally.

With her just a few inches away, he could smell her perfume and wondered if he really should get on her for that one of these days. "You usually don't let that kind of thing get under your skin."

"I know. I'm just… stressed." She sat up and swept her bangs to the side again and offered him a tired smile. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi waved a hand as he sat up as well, facing her. "It's better you get it out of your system now rather than later, when it might not be so convenient," he replied. "You all right?"

Sakura nodded, her chin coming to rest on one raised knee. "Thanks." She stared contemplatively at the dimly lit far wall and, after a prolonged moment, her eyes slid back to him, narrowing a little. "Will you tell me what you were going to say?"

"Sakura, we—"

"We talked about this. I know. But I still don't get why you won't tell me."

He shook his head. "I don't want to influence your decision."

"Isn't the fact that I'm asking you for your opinion on this sort of asking you to influence it?" she wondered with a scowl.

"Maybe, but that doesn't change the fact that you have to make this particular choice on your own." He smiled a little at the slight furrow of her brow, trying to reassure her even when he felt just as exasperated as she was by it all.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Giving me input doesn't mean you're tainting my opinion, but fine," she grumbled, hooking her chin over her knee so she could examine her foot and pick at her pedicure.

Kakashi watched her for a moment and then shut his eye, opting to enjoy the comfortable silence that had fallen over them. She wasn't eager to leave, it seemed, and Kakashi wasn't about to kick her out. Although, he told himself, he _should_. He should because this was just tempting fate. This was just tempting himself to say and do so many stupid things all at once. What was worse was the chance, the very slight and nagging chance, that she wouldn't immediately break his jaw for it either.

"What if I make the wrong choice?"

"You won't." He opened his eye again to meet hers. "It doesn't concern anyone but you, Sakura. Whatever choice you make will be _yours_ and you don't have to account for it to anyone else—not even me or Naruto or Sai."

Sakura said nothing for some time, her expression (for once) unreadable. At length, she smiled at him. "I should go."

He nodded and sat up, taking the hand she offered out and letting her pull him to his feet. "I'll see you in the morning," he said. "I'll talk to Harada when you're checking on Eri."

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed. She paused to pick at her fingernails and then looked up at him, letting out a short huff of air. "Okay, just for the record: it _does_ concern you. You're one of the most important people in my life, Hatake. Got that?"

Kakashi nodded, smiling despite the stern look on her face and the way his own heart was slamming into his ribs. "Got it."

* * *

1. Hello! I'm alive! I'm posting! I HAS FANART! Yes that totally deserves mention in note 1. Please, direct your attention to the link provided in my profile to the picture "No Peeking" by the lovely Kimeko-28. It is awesome!

2. Oh so many notes to make. Given that it's almost 5am, I'll make them brief (sorry, I know). First, Sakura mentioned then genjutsu messing with the brain's ability to recognize faces. There is a special area of the brain dedicated to recognizing faces. This is the same area that enables us to recognize faces even in inanimate objects. Note the disorder "Face-blindness", which is literally the inability to recognize faces. It's a bit like someone who's color-blind being unable to tell colors apart (or so I've heard it described).

3. Second, (already not in order) Kakashi dances. One, because this is sexy and I say so. Two, because dancing _really_ isn't that hard.

4. I believe even larger limbs can be separated for a day-ish before being reattached, but they have to be kept cold. Fingers can be reattached even after several days in a warm climate. Eri's moment of being hardcore here is mostly because I planned for her to be originally kind of a badass, but that got scrapped. Also, I tired to shuffle her grandmother in as an excuse for how she knew to treat her own hand, but actually I knew how to stop bleeding and save all detached body parts since I was twelve and no one in my family is a doctor, so yeah.

5. Oh and for as very little screen time as she gets here, Aika will be important for the rest of this arc. And Jin is just around...to be an ass, I guess. I really don't know.

6. Hate this chapter. Had to edit it nine billion times and wanted to scrap it even then.

7. NEXT CHAPTER SPOILER: STUFF WILL HAPPEN! Because, seriously, this was a boring 'setting things up' chapter. Sorry, it's kind of a let down of an update.

8. Yes, I researched reattaching amputated fingers. I could have done without the pictures.

9. I have a series of drabbles posted under the title "And Love" and sooner or later I will be posting the final chapter to Blithe Spirits. Also, for those of you who have read Blithe Spirits and are curious, go back and read it assuming that Sakura's greasy neighbor is the fan-version of Hidan (you know, where's he's kind of charming rather than just a baby-strangling psychopath with no redeeming qualities and a smile that could make the Joker nervous). Oh and in the future I plan to post an Ino/Genma one-shot because I am an unrepentant crack-pairing whore and I think they're two of the most severely abused characters.

10. Oh chapter related: Sakura testing her concoctions on her friends. Please note that this would only be after rigorous testing elsewhere (like on rats-OHNOESCALLPETA!) and that these would be more like drug trials to test efficiency (with the drugs being logically applied of course: testing a sedative for Gaara on Kankuro, his protective older brother, and an antihistamine on Ino, who works with flowers). I don't know why I'm noting this other than I had the brief vision of Sakura randomly drugging people, laughed, and then felt compelled to clear it up.

11. Also chapter related: Retrograde amnesia is not being able to remember past events and anterograde amnesia is not being able to acquire NEW memories. Usually both are temporary conditions where concerning drugs and trauma, but the memories lost are usually lost for good.

12. Also also chapter related: I mention Sakura "suplexing" Kakashi. You'll hear that term used a lot in regard to wrestling (the word "suplay" is also used, but more in reference to Greco-Roman wrestling), most especially in show wrestling (aka Pro-wrestling), but envision this as more the kind of suplex sometimes referenced in Judo, where it's actually, ya know, practical. I note this because there's actually a huge difference between them, with the word suplex being used in Judo to refer to certain kinds of take-downs whereas the suplex in pro-wrestling is much more about lifting your opponent more or less completely up over your head followed by a dramatic fall to the mat (impractical and really not very elegant). YouTube search "Judo suplex" for references if you want. (I figure as much as Sakura would know the standard hand-to-hand, she'd probably know some grappling moves as well because sometimes punching someone just isn't physical enough).

**(All right, that's it for notes. Sorry about the chapter, guys. It's late and it sucks. Will try to do better in both areas next time. Also, my sister is having a boy and they've almost settled on the name Max. WHEE!)**


	26. In Which Things Change

**House Calls**

**Chapter 26**

**

* * *

**

There was only one maid in charge of cleaning the family rooms and due to an "unfortunate" mix-up with scheduling, she didn't come in.

Except, she did. Kind of.

If nothing else, changing sheets at the hospital and generally being a bit of a clean-freak helped prepare Sakura for the days when she had to put her janitorial skills to use in the pursuit of answers.

_"Anything?"_

Sakura hummed and pushed a blond lock back behind her ear as she flipped through a file of receipts. "No," she sighed, "Not yet anyway."

_"Hm… maybe there isn't anything to find?"_

"There's got to be something," she sighed, closing the file and carefully replacing it before pulling out another and laying it open on the desk. "I mean, in Icha Icha Violence how long did it take you to realize that Hiroto was the bad guy? Harada Jin is hiding something. He was so positive he'd have us off the island by morning that I kind of relished doing Eri-san's checkup this morning."

There was a huff of static on the other end as Kakashi let out a muffled laugh against the receiver. _"Do I want to know what you did to the family's doctor?"_

Sakura looked upwards as she thought of the perhaps too-firm handshake she had given the man and the not so subtle threats about _her_ patients and what happened when _others_ interfered with them. There may have even been a few of the deadliest evil-eyes given in order to get her point across. "As my commanding officer, probably not."

_"Then I'll pretend I never asked."_

She hummed and removed a few more files from the drawer. "So, what are you doing?"

_"Going through the employee files."_

"Does Harada-san know that?"

_"No. When I spoke to him this morning, he was adamant that his staff would never betray him. I suppose that's why we're here. To be rational about this."_

Sakura frowned a little. "You're so cynical."

_"So says the woman who can't trust that a man just wants us off the island because he's concerned for his family's well-being."_

"That's different," she huffed.

_"In what way?"_

"In the way that I'm not a total butthead."

_"These exchanges of witty repartee between us really are the best part of these missions."_

Sakura rolled her eyes but didn't reply.

Jin had refused outright to speak to her when she arrived to check on Eri, who was awake but very sluggish while still being given shots of pain medication. He was clearly disappointed that his father hadn't tossed them out in the middle of the night and wasn't shy about showing it. She determined that for someone who seemed quite accustomed to getting his own way it must have been quite the blow to his pride.

Needless to say, Sakura couldn't have cared less.

It was one thing to be arrogant. _Fine_. She dealt with a fair share of such personalities on a semi-regular basis and had long ago learned how to adjust for them. But it was the sheer ignorance displayed that annoyed her. These men, whoever they were, were entrenched in the island, which had no connection to any ruling government. They had found out a way to manipulate it to their needs by extorting the inhabitants and ducking detection, having only untrained, unarmed civilians standing in their way. If the Harada clan paid them to leave, the odds of the criminals deciding that they had _enough_ money were slim. At best. Nothing was stopping them from staying anyway and then soaking the family for all the money they could.

If nothing else, this was just about being professional. The man was an ass and clearly the most suspicious individual on hand, but it was just smart investigative work to examine every possible angle.

Sakura was jarred back into reality when she heard the door in the main room open followed by the shuffle of feet against carpet. Hastily she pulled her ear piece out and tucked it away in her bra before closing the files and replacing them in the drawer. She straightened the desk chair, moved everything back where it had been before she sat down, and then turned toward the windows behind the desk where she had left a spray bottle of cleaner and a rag on the sill.

* * *

"You look disappointed."

Sakura sighed as she flopped onto her stomach across Kakashi's bed, facing the man who sat in an armchair just in front of her. He watched, polishing a shoe in one hand, as her henge dispelled just as she hit the mattress, blond locks giving way to pink while her maid's uniform vanished, replaced by a simple sundress.

Kakashi, as he forced his attention to the shoe and rag he held in his hands, noted for the tenth time that day that he _hated_ these kinds of missions. A lot. Particularly _this_ mission. Not only did he have to get dressed in something other than his usual uniform, it was also repeatedly underlining the fact that Sakura, who he had begun to compulsively refer to as his "friend" and "partner" in his _own_ inner dialogue, was in fact very beautiful. Among other things. A lot of other things that were making those "friends" and "partners" sound like graphic innuendos of some kind.

Then, he supposed with wry humor, the mission wasn't _so_ bad: he wasn't the one stuck changing sheets all day.

His beautiful partner was—_hellshitdamnit_.

"Jin has gambling problem," Sakura sighed breaking his train of thought.

Kakashi looked up at this and raised an eyebrow. "How much?"

"He's lost almost two-hundred-thousand ryo this month alone," she replied, sounding equally bored.

He let out a low whistle. "Why aren't you more excited then? I thought you were looking for dirt on him."

Sakura huffed and pushed herself up, sitting back on one hip with her legs folded beside her. "I wasn't looking for dirt; I was looking for a connection to the syndicate," she argued. "I guess now he was just being an ass because he's an ignorant, but good older brother to Aika and Eri and maybe just a little afraid that we'd unearth his problem. It's not even that much of a problem. If he gambles here then he's basically just putting the money back in his family's vaults." She sighed. "What a waste. He was a perfectly suspicious lead too."

"Yeah, it's always disappointing when you can't reveal that someone's betrayed their loved ones."

Kakashi glanced up in time to catch the way she narrowed her eyes at him. "Not what I meant," she grumbled. "I was just hoping that for once this would be _easy_. Besides, it's always the family with this kind of thing." She sighed and flicked a lock of hair back over her shoulder. "Did you turn up anything?"

"Harada keeps meticulous records on all of his employees, but I didn't find a reason for any of them to turn on the man," he replied, rubbing at a particularly stubborn scuff on the toe of one shoe. "And there's nothing to suggest that any of them is a ninja. Most of them are from villages along Fire's southern coast or the smaller countries to the east, where they probably only hear about the Hidden Villages."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course," she muttered as she dropped onto her side, propping her cheek on her upturned palm. "Where does that leave us?"

Kakashi found himself momentarily (but only momentarily) distracted by her legs stretched across his bed (not that anyone would blame him for this as most would agree that they were rather nice legs). "Brute force?" he suggested.

She frowned. "In what way? We're pretty limited in this particular situation."

"If they're ninja, they'll have a heightened amount of chakra," Kakashi began, lifting his shoe to examine it and then dropping it to the floor before picking up its twin. "The second and third floors open up onto balconies that overlook the casino floor. I'll monitor things from there with the Sharingan. I'll pick out the likeliest candidate and you move in."

"Aren't you worried that that's a little too brutal?" she asked. "I wouldn't be surprised if these guys had to check in all the time with whoever's running the show. He might be missed."

"Maybe. You can feel him out and make that call."

Sakura smiled a little at this and Kakashi realized then that he'd have to find something more masculine than _butterflies_ to describe the awful feeling in his gut. He took to his current occupation with even more interest as he changed the subject. "How is Eri-san?"

"Doing very well and as far as I can tell she doesn't seem to remember much of what happened, which is probably for the better. That's not exactly an experience anyone needs to recall in detail." She combed her fingers through her hair, pausing to examine the ends briefly before her attention zeroed in on him again. "So," she began. "Tonight?"

Kakashi nodded. "I think so. The floor is yours, as it were."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, let's hope I have better luck than Tsunade-sama." She flashed him another smile and then turned her head to look at the door, sitting up when she turned back to him. "I was thinking about going for a walk to look at the shops. I know it's kind of a waste of time, but we don't have much else to do until tonight and who knows? We might overhear something."

He grinned a little at this and shot her a knowing look. "You just want to get out of the hotel."

Sakura scoffed. "Of course not! My intentions are purely professional. Who says that they're not shaking down the people who own that really cute dress shop by the docks? Besides, I'm not going to kill time by cleaning rooms all day."

"Right. Just let me get dressed."

"I'll be down in the lobby."

* * *

"Mai-chan!"

Sakura coughed as the wind was nearly knocked right out of her by Aika, who had collided into her with force she thought only Naruto was capable of. "Aika-san," she wheezed as the girl's arms locked around her neck. "How are you?"

"Very well!" The young Harada stepped back, her hands dropping to take Sakura's. "I missed you this morning! Where have you been?"

Sakura couldn't help but smile. She wasn't quite sure when they had become best friends, but it was probably sometime the night before after she and Kakashi had brought Eri back in (relatively) one piece. "I'm sorry, I was running errands. Did you need something?"

"Oh, not really." Aika smiled widely and tipped her head to the side. "I was just worried that Jin had actually won Father over. I'm glad to see he didn't! Where are you off to now?"

"I was just going to check out a few of the shops with my partner," Sakura replied. "He should be down here any minute."

Although, that was hardly a guarantee.

"Oh." Aika pouted a little, but it was short-lived before she began to smile again. "I was hoping you would come with me to lunch, but you'll just have to accompany me tonight on the casino floor. Jin and Daddy can't be on the floor tonight, so I'll be making nice with the high rollers. Besides, it's been ages since I've spent any time at the tables.

Sakura internally made face. "Oh, I'm not much of a gambler," she protested. Becoming Aika's playmate was definitely not on the agenda. "I should probably—"

"I'll teach you," Aika cut in, her grin suddenly very impish. "I'm _very_ good. You have a dress, right? It gets pretty formal out there and we can't have you sticking out. I can lend you one of mine, if—"

"I have a dress, but I can't make any promises," the medic explained hastily. "I have work and—"

"I'm sure your partner can spare you one night." Blond curls bounced as Aika tipped her head to the side, wearing the same cat-like smile. "If not, I can convince him, I'm sure. Please say you will come? Eri-chan usually comes with me but she won't feel up to it after her ordeal."

Well, if the gang tried anything else by targeting Aika, it'd be prudent to be with the girl and observing from the floor with her would be much less conspicuous than wandering about on her own. Pairs tended to look less suspicious than just a single, wandering individual; especially when the pair in question involved someone as obviously young as Aika. "All right, you win," Sakura said at length.

Aika beamed happily at this and, casting a glance sideways at an approaching Kakashi, she lunged forward to hug Sakura again. "I'll see you at eight! Bye!"

She turned away then, throwing Kakashi a bright smile as she passed him and then looking back at Sakura over her shoulder and winking. The Copy-Nin glanced back at the girl as he stopped in front of Sakura. "So… what was that about?"

"I just got asked out on another date for tonight," she replied with a smile. "Sorry."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Am I being stood up?"

Sakura smiled even wider and fell in beside him as he led the way to the doors. "Don't think of it like that. It's perfectly innocent." She reached out to straighten the collar of his shirt, frowning at how he had left it unbuttoned. "I'll still be on the floor and I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get away from Aika if the need arises. Besides, this could work for us."

Kakashi nodded slowly as he opened the lobby doors and ushered Sakura out ahead of him. "I suppose."

No wonder the island was so popular, Sakura realized, slipping a hand into the crook of Kakashi's as he slid his hands into his pockets and they stepped into the milling crowds of tourists. It was beautiful. While the air and sun were warm, the breeze blowing off of the water was refreshing and light and the casinos and bars, with their various shades of cream-colored, stucco faces and overflowing flower boxes, looked pretty and innocent in the daylight.

Maybe it wasn't too late. If she started to suck up when she got back, Tsunade might take her along on that winter vacation she had planned.

"Do you think her father knows about you two?"

Sakura laughed and shook her head. The breeze picked up forcing her to slap a hand down over her skirt as the fabric lifted dangerously. "I don't think so, but I can't imagine he'd have a problem with it. Her brother on the other hand…"

Kakashi was shaking his head before she finished. "If he gets underfoot I'll have a talk with him."

She looked to him then, one eyebrow creeping up her forehead as she narrowed her eyes skeptically. "A talk? You mean blackmail?"

"That's such an ugly word," the man protested. "It sounds so negative."

Sakura grinned. "_Uh-huh_. I wonder why." She looked into the windows of a few shops as they passed, scanning the items on display but not tempted by anything enough to pause for a closer look. Eventually, her attention drifted back to Kakashi. "So, what do you think our odds are of one of our guys walking into the casino tonight?"

He hummed as if deep in thought over this. "Given how close of an eye they seem to be keeping on the family, the fact that they just made a big move and will be monitoring the aftermath, and your involvement in the exchange, I'm willing to bet that they'll be trying to get as much information as they can. There will be someone there. It'll just be a matter of finding them."

"That shouldn't be a problem, except…" Sakura pursed her lips and looked up to him in question. "When we get him, where are we going to keep him? We're aiming to be discreet still, right? I'm pretty sure people will start asking questions if we start _adopting_. Also, we're kind of not following orders. Tsunade-same told us that we were just here for information."

"I'm sure she won't mind if we take a more proactive approach to the problem." Kakashi shot her a sideways look and she raised her eyebrows at him in reply. He simply smiled and added, "There are soundproof conference rooms upstairs at the hotel. We'll store our precious cargo there."

She let out a little huff of amusement. "Out of curiosity, how do you know that?"

"Research."

"Uh-huh."

Scouting places to stash prisoners? Yeah, that sounded right.

Sakura spared another look Kakashi's way, wondering at how normal and everyday this felt. After confessing to Ino out loud, she had worried it would change something. _Saying_ it made it real, after all.

But, it hadn't.

She wasn't sure what she had expected. Her only experience was when she had fallen for Sasuke and coming to grips with _that_ had changed everything. Maybe it was age, but maybe it was just _Kakashi_. He had never made her uncomfortable before, why would he now? And yes, she was a little jittery, but even that was getting more and more manageable as she acclimated to the idea that she had a crush on him.

A serious crush. A very different crush than what she had known before. Something that was beginning to feel not-so-crush like. (Then again, anything was bound to be different than what she had felt for Sasuke and, really, thank the gods for that.)

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Sakura glanced up at Kakashi and then smiled and shrugged. "Nothing really," she replied. It was a lie told straight through her teeth and the words didn't get the chance to even settle over them before she was struck with a pang of guilt. "I just… have you ever been in a position where you wonder if you've lost your mind?"

Because if this ANBU thing didn't do it, this Kakashi thing would.

He lifted a hand to rub at the back of his head as his eyes slid away from her and to the side. "On the occasion."

It vaguely occurred to Sakura that he seemed uneasy, but the thought was shoved violently from her mind as another gust of wind slipped up under the hem of her skirt. She scrambled to catch the material, snatching her hand away from his arm and slapping it down over the back of her thigh. "Well, what do you do about it?" she asked, hoping that she hadn't actually flashed anyone. Or Kakashi. Especially Kakashi.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "I suppose… I just go with it."

The girl snorted and shot him a skeptical, narrow look. "Really? Or is that just you trying to sound cool? Because Gai would be so jealous."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I'm serious."

"I'm not a very 'just go with it' kind of person," Sakura huffed. She smoothed her hands over her skirt, pinching two points of it between fingers and then gathering them at her hip so that the fabric was pulled taut over her legs.

"I've noticed."

She scowled and nudged him with her shoulder. "You're no help."

Kakashi nudged her back. "It's hard to help when you're being so vague," he scolded.

Ah… well, she couldn't exactly remedy that, could she? She couldn't even go the route of slightly _less_ vagueness because, while it seemed a little stupid, the last thing she wanted as to do was give him any ideas about her liking someone _else_. A girl could hold out hope and if Jiraiya had taught her anything, it had been via one of his more frequently used and _exasperating_ plot devices.

He nudged her again, prompting her to respond.

Sakura opened her mouth, as if to do so, and then suddenly gasped and pointed. "Shoes!"

It was the most obvious and most poorly executed feint in all of history and Sakura could almost feel Kakashi rolling his eyes, but she was unrepentant as she disappeared inside the store.

* * *

Kakashi sat on a bench a good distance away from Harada Aika with Icha Icha opened in one hand, observing the young heiress with mild interest. If nothing else, she was hard to miss. Her dress was all glittering sequins and beads and almost painful to stare at directly, but she was playing her role and greeting guests as they entered with aplomb while waiting for Sakura.

_While __he_ waited for Sakura.

Needless to say, it felt kind of weird to have the natural order of things reversed in such a way. Really weird. Especially since Sakura was never one to be late. He glanced toward the elevators, half-tempted to check on her, but decided against it.

He looked back to his book.

He didn't intend to approach Sakura before she met with Aika. There was no real reason to. It was just better to account for each other before they took their positions for the night and… okay, that was kind of a lie. It was smart planning but not really necessary. She'd have her earpiece in.

He really just… wanted to see her. There was no logical explanation for it, no real _reason_… he just did. (Needless to say, this little admission resulted in a storm of self-disgust even though he didn't feel particularly guilty.)

"Hi!"

Kakashi looked to his right and raised an eyebrow at Aika, who was suddenly seated beside him and smiling warmly. "Hello, Harada-san."

She laughed. "You can call me Aika. Your Mai-chan's partner, aren't you? I didn't catch your name."

"Yamada Taro."

"Well, Taro-kun, I just want to thank you for letting Mai-chan come out and play tonight," she said in a voice that made it clear she was teasing him. "I want to thank her for helping Eri-chan and this is the best way I know." She stared at him for a moment and then tipped her head to the side. "So, what's with the mask?"

Kakashi glanced at her. "It's for sanitary purposes."

"And the gloves?"

"The same."

"Ah… so what happened to your eye?"

He looked to the elevators then, willing Sakura to appear. She still read minds, right? "I lost it."

"In the laundry or something?" she asked with a tiny smirk.

He smirked too. "Yes."

"_Ah_." Aika eyed him and pouted, but it didn't last long. Her face lit up again suddenly at the sight of something just beyond him. "Mai-chan!"

Dimly, Kakashi marveled at how fast the girl could move in heels, but this faded shortly when he saw Sakura and he had something else entirely to admire.

Yeah. This mission was going to be the end of him.

The mission and possibly the dress Sakura was wearing. It was black and short and slinky and _short_ and Sakura was his _friend_ and his _partner_ and she was smiling at him even though Aika had just launched into her with enthusiasm that would have made Gai weep and for a second he couldn't _breathe_.

* * *

Sakura wasn't fairing very well herself (which would have probably thrilled Kakashi; misery loved company).

Yes, the _formula_ was still in place: shirt, vest, pants, mask. But the collar of his shirt was undone and his sleeves were rolled up and the vest wasn't bulky like his flak jacket and instead it emphasized how tall and lanky he was and that was just endearing as hell.

On some level it surprised her that he even owned such garments, though she knew that this probably wasn't the first mission he had been on where he had to blend in with an upper class sort of people. She supposed it was just jarring to see him wearing them, formula or not, and jarring to realize how handsome he was. Which was saying quite a lot for a man who kept three-fourths of his face covered at all times.

Suddenly Aika had her by the hand and was dragging her toward the casino floor, chattering happily all the while. When Sakura glanced over her shoulder for a last look at Kakashi, she couldn't help but grin. He was already gone.

"Where would you like to start, Mai-chan?" Aika had both hands on her arm now and was walking so close it seemed that they were suddenly attached at the hip.

The floor was packed with people and with games. A cacophony of sounds assaulted Sakura from all sides while the heavy odor of cigarettes wafted over her. The patrons were all well-dressed and groomed to show off and she took a second to admire a few of the women's dresses before looking upwards, taking in the chandeliers and then scanning the second and third floor balconies for a familiar, masked face, but was disappointed.

Aika was still talking, still dragging her along. "Poker? Roulette? There are a few slots too, but they're not as exciting. I like card games best."

Sakura made a face, remembering now that she _hadn't_ been lying earlier when she told Aika that she wasn't much of a gambler. At least, not much of a card player. Well… among shinobi anyway. Maybe that'd make a difference.

"I'm not really sure."

Aika grinned. "We'll start with blackjack then, okay? For a warm-up. C'mon, my lucky table is over here."

* * *

"Ha, you're such a liar, Mai-chan! You're doing great!"

And Sakura was. It turned out that she just wasn't skilled at poker when it came to playing against people whose whole jobs revolved around detecting lies and gathering information. On the other hand, cleaning out civilians who had all kinds of tells and no really effective means of hiding them was a total _cinch_.

Sakura sighed and threw away a pair of aces. Damn conscience.

"_Saw that._"

_How_? How did he see that? Where the hell was he? It was _maddening_ not being able to respond. It was bad enough when Ino abused her family jutsu to be a telepathic pain in the ass, but to have Kakashi pulling basically the same thing was beyond annoying. She glanced upward quickly, hoping he could also see her scowling from wherever he was.

"So, Mai-chan. Do you have a boyfriend?"

It was just them and the dealer at the table, other players having come but gone quickly when their luck turned on them. Sakura glanced toward the girl on her right. "No, I'm too busy for that."

"Aw, that's too bad."

Sakura frowned a little at her tone. It sounded like she was trying to lead this conversation somewhere in particular and if her time spent at the Yamanaka compound had taught her anything, it was how easily girl talk could be turned into an interrogation. "So, what about you?" she wondered, attempting a playful, sideways look. "Do you have anyone special?

Aika worried her bottom lip between her teeth for a moment as she cast a glance around her and then finally met the medic's eyes. "Actually," she began, a wide grin spreading across her lips, "I do, but don't tell anyone!"

"Mmm, do I get to meet him?"

Aika threw a few chips into the pot. "_Well_…" She made a face. "He's meeting me here tonight and I haven't actually even introduced Daddy or Jin, but that's just because they're so overprotective. I'm sorry, it's kind of why I asked you to come. If you're with me, then they can't really assume anything's going on—not that that's the only reason why I invited you! It's just—"

"A fringe benefit," Sakura supplied with a smile and the panic eased slightly from the younger girl's shoulder as she too began to smile. In contrast, a knot was beginning to form in Sakura's gut. "I understand that, Aika-san. Make it up to me by introducing us."

Aika grinned happily at this. "Okay!"

* * *

"You know what's really annoying? Getting harassed all night and not being able to retaliate."

Kakashi smiled to himself as he lowered the monocular scope he held from his eye. He had his left shoulder pressed into a decorative column, his body turned so that no one approaching him, from either direction, would see his Sharingan. "I was offering constructive criticism."

The hall was empty aside from the two of them, with all the rooms' occupants being occupied elsewhere, so he chanced it and turned toward Sakura as she approached. If in that time his Sharingan activated just long enough to file the image of her in that dress away forever, no one needed to be the wiser.

"What are you doing up here?"

Sakura shrugged and stepped up beside him, laying both hands on his arm. "I told Aika I was going to the bathroom," she replied. "I just wanted to check in and do this."

She pinched him before the words were out of her mouth, grabbing the skin under his shirt sleeve and biting it with the very tips of her fingernails. Kakashi winced. "See if I ever offer you advice again," he muttered.

Sakura shrugged. "You've been stingy with that as of late anyway."

The line was said with such deadpan that he couldn't tell if she was making a dig or just offering commentary. Just the same, it bothered him. "How's Aika?"

She pulled away to stand with her hip pressed into the ornately carved balcony railing as she folded her arms. "She's kind of a typical sixteen-year-old girl… albeit one who's cleaning everyone at the tables out just for fun."

"You were doing pretty well."

"I was barely maintaining," she protested. "Though, I suppose when you grow up surrounded by gambling and that's just going to happen. She's also got some mystery boyfriend she's keeping secret from her father and brother."

Kakashi frowned and began to scan the floor for a head of blond curls. Secret boyfriends were suspicious by their very nature. In this particular situation they were even more so. "Whose idea was the secret part?"

"I don't know? Probably hers. She does think her dad would approve and given the current atmosphere..."

The Copy-nin hummed in agreement. "The guy must have the patience of a priest," he murmured at length as he spared Sakura a look. "She's quite the talker."

Sakura nodded, but even as she did so she began to frown. She turned to him, her brows lifted. "Kakashi… you don't think…?"

He honed in on Aika just as she was approaching a young man standing in the middle of a row of slots, out of sight from the various security guards scattered about the floor. A young man with a tellingly heightened amount of chakra. "Yep."

Sakura slapped a hand to forehead and sighed. "I suppose that figures." She dragged her fingers back through her hair and sighed, leaning her weight even more heavily into the balcony railing. "Poor Aika. She's probably told him _everything_ her family was up to without even thinking about it."

"Well, if you can't trust your boyfriend, who can you trust?" Kakashi replied with a wry little grin as she shot him a sour look. "Go get him."

"You're kidding right?" she scoffed. "I can't proposition him right in front of her. Besides, he's probably going to have his guard up."

She was clearly underestimating the power of that dress. Or… something that sounded more platonic than that. "Fine. I'll distract Aika. Just get him alone somewhere and take him down."

"Will do."

Kakashi nodded, shot one more glance to the casino floor, and then turned and headed straight for the nearest elevators. As he stepped inside he removed his eye-patch from his vest pocket and replaced it before the doors opened again.

* * *

In Kakashi's opinion, people trusted authority too much. Even more than that, they trusted _implied_ authority too much, willing to follow orders given to them by anyone who seemed to know what they were doing.

Aika, in general, was too trusting. Telling her that her father had requested her presence and that he was sent to escort her had easily led her away from her beau and into the sea of people crowding the casino floor. She had even come without an argument, going so far as to hang herself onto his arm and chat avidly about how pretty "Mai-chan" was and how nice she looked. He studiously ignored the knowing looks she kept shooting his way as he "uh-huh'd" and "hmm'd" his way through the conversation.

"Taro-kun, where are we really going? Daddy is busy all night tonight."

_Or_ maybe she wasn't quite as foolish as he thought. Hell, he hadn't even gotten her upstairs. She was still walking with him, but he could feel her steps slowing subtly and the way she had her arms locked around his made him slow down as well. He looked down at her and then glanced around them. "Actually—" Time for Plan B—"I'd like to show you something."

She smiled, looking excited and intrigued. "Really? What?"

Kakashi shot another cautious glance around and then raised one hand to his eye-patch, lifting it as he turned his head to look at her. Aika's eyes went wide at the sight of the spinning tomoes, but all she got out was a strangled sort of gasp before her knees gave out from under her.

He caught her easily before she could hit the ground and swung her weight up into his arms as he let the eye-patch fall back into place.

Okay. He took it back. The _security_ guards were the idiots here. The one—the only one at that—who noticed him carrying a girl's dead weight to the elevators (to their credit, at that distance they probably couldn't tell one blond girl in a sparkly dress from another) took one step forward and then immediately backed off when he waved at them to stand down. No wonder Eri had been abducted so easily.

Upstairs, from the balcony, he saw Sakura crossing the casino floor with a little extra sway in her hips (which looked less sexy and more like she had broken a heel, but her attempt was endearing). He paused to watch her slide into Aika's recently abandoned seat and greet their target with a smile.

Judging by the way the young man straightened in his seat and shifted his body so that he was turned toward her, Sakura wouldn't have a problem getting him to follow her anywhere.

* * *

His name was Eiji and, as far as he knew, Sakura had been sent by Aika to keep him company while she dealt with a family matter.

Eiji, being a stand-up guy, didn't seem put-out by this and by the way he was kissing her neck as they took the elevator to the third floor, Sakura figured he had pretty much forgiven any sort of inconvenience the situation had caused him.

What a guy.

On an unrelated note, she was going to break his hand for offenses it had committed at the blackjack table.

She smiled as she pulled him through the doors by his hand, leading him down the hallway toward her room. "I hope you won't be missed by anyone," she said as he slipped his other arms around her waist and leaned in to kiss her shoulder. "Family or something? They might be looking for you in the morning and I can't promise I'll be done with you by then."

Sakura felt his teeth against her skin as he smiled. "I wouldn't worry about that. _No_ one will need me any time soon and what Aika doesn't know won't hurt her."

She hummed softly as she pulled her room key from her purse and reached out to unlock the door, gritting her teeth as he pressed closer to her, pulling her hips back into his. "Good to know."

On another unrelated note, she was also going to break his nose.

Sakura got the door unlocked without any fumbling and opened it just far enough to let them both inside. Once in, Eiji wasted no time in turning her around and shoving her into the door, forcing it shut as his hands grabbed at her waist as his mouth covered hers.

Of the many things she didn't typically _like_ about her job, this topped the list. She understood that it was a classic, kunoichi trick to trip men up by using their sexuality to every advantage it offered them. She understood that this was effective because most men could be led around by their penises. She understood that for someone like her the situation usually presented very little _actual_ danger as she could break grown men twice her size in half with minimal effort.

That didn't mean she had to like it. Or take it.

She broke the kiss with a smile and lifted her hands to frame his face. He nuzzled her palm gently before she dragged her fingers back through his hair and took a step into him, as if leaning in for another kiss. Instead, she got a good grip on his skull to stabilize it and then drilled her forehead as hard as she could into the bridge of his nose.

He staggered backwards, swearing violently as he bled, one hand reaching under his jacket for a kunai. She grabbed his wrist when he swung at her with the blade and roughly twisted his arm around, locking it at the elbow before driving her other fist into his throat. He fell to a knee and, still holding his arm, she slammed her elbow into his temple.

Sakura pulled the knife easily out of his hand as his body slumped to the floor. Inspecting the sharpened edge, she crossed the room for her bag, removing bindings, a gag, and her radio transmitter. "Kakashi?"

_"I'm here."_

"How's Aika?"

_"Just fine. How's our guest?"_

"Oh, very comfortable."

_"Keep him that way while I talk to Harada. Things have changed now."_

_

* * *

_

"So, Aika and Jin know?"

"The information leak was the reason we needed to keep them out of the loop to begin with," Kakashi replied as Sakura lounged back on her bed, her legs crossed. "Aika, Eri, and Jin are leaving the island tomorrow night and are going to stay with relatives on the coast. In the mean time, we have to keep our guest quiet until we can transport him to the conference rooms. Harada is making arrangements tonight to ensure that that floor will be completely cleared out. No guests, no cleaning crews."

Sakura nodded slowly. "So, what do we do until then?"

Kakashi shrugged as he sat down beside her. "We'll seal the doors and I'll stay in here tonight to make sure there aren't any problems. In the morning we'll move him."

She nodded again and tipped her head back to look at the ceiling. "So, what do we do _now_?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Wait."

Oh, that one constant in espionage: waiting. Sakura sighed, knowing it was going to be a long night, and got up from the bed to grab her bag, which she swung easily up onto the small breakfast table near the kitchenette. She removed a pair of loose sweats and a sports bra and then laid them aside as she reached down to pull off her heels. Momentarily, she caught Kakashi's when he looked her way. "What's wrong?"

He shrugged and looked down his hands, picking at his fingertips. "Are you all right?"

She did her damndest not to smile. They were close. It was natural for him to be concerned. It wasn't some great victory. But it felt like it. "Maybe a little more felt-up than I'd like to be, but I broke his nose so I think we're even." She smiled as she reached down to pull her dress up over her head, having opted to wear a pair of shorts under the particularly perilous skirt just in case. "How was Aika?"

"Still unconscious, which is for the better, I think."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, no kidding. I'll talk to her in the morning and explain everything."

He chucked a little. "Are you going to need back-up for that?"

"Hm, more people around might just rack up the body count," she replied good-humoredly. "I can handle it. It won't be _pretty_, but I'm pretty sure I can manage."

Kakashi nodded and Sakura shimmied into her sweats and then pulled her sports bra on over the strapless bra she was already wearing. After a bit of maneuvering, she managed to unhook the strapless and slip it out from underneath. "Do you need anything from your room?" she asked.

"I'll be fine."

Sakura glanced back at him and then shrugged. She leaned down to pull two bottles of water from the mini-fridge and then crawled back onto the bed, coming to kneel beside Kakashi and, without asking, slipped his eye-patch off. Kakashi let his head roll towards her as she pressed a glowing hand to his temple.

* * *

Time passed slowly and a counterproductive, nervous energy began to build. The next day would be filled with preparing the conference room to hold a ninja and then beginning their interrogations. Once that started, they'd only have a small window of time to work with, but until then they had little else to do but sit on their hands.

It wasn't long before they pushed all of the furniture against one wall and settled for a spar.

Sakura blamed inevitably for what soon came out of her mouth.

"So… I sent my answer to Ibiki."

What an icebreaker. Sakura cringed a little inwardly as she ducked and weaved around Kakashi's strikes. It had to be addressed though. Sooner or later and sooner was better.

Kakashi didn't react much beyond squinting an eye and then dodging when she returned a blow. "Oh?"

"Mm-hm. When we came back to the hotel earlier after our walk, I wrote something up and left it with the front desk to be sent out."

It was amazing the weight that had been lifted from her shoulders upon sending that letter and the satisfaction she felt in knowing that she had made the right decision.

_Thanks, but no thanks._

It just wasn't in her. She hated to admit it, hated to acknowledge it, but she wasn't Neji or Kakashi or Sai. She couldn't detach herself that much from a situation, from her feelings to be effective, and she was pretty sure that the last thing black ops needed was an agent as bound by emotions as she was.

"What did you say?"

Sakura ducked another of his punches and threw a kick aimed at his head only to be denied in return. "Uh-uh," she scolded, taking a few steps back. "I told you that we were going to finish what we started discussing on the boat and since we never did, you get your answer when I get my answer—the real one."

Kakashi squinted an eye at her in a frown. "I'm not a fan of ultimatums, Sakura."

Oh. Oh _really_? Well, wasn't that just too bad? She snorted and pushed her bangs roughly away from her forehead. "Then we're even, because I'm not crazy about the stance you took on this," she replied and folded her arms. "I just wanted… I don't know. I don't know anyone else who's been in ANBU that I know as well as you and feel as comfortable asking and I just wanted someone to hash it out with."

"I told you already that you needed to make that choice by yourself," he protested.

"I would have!" she snapped. She glanced to the bathroom door and then huffed and lowered her voice. "But some guidance or some back-up or _something_ would have been nice—you know, from a friend or someone more experienced or a teammate or someone who happens to be all three!"

Kakashi eyed her for a moment and then raked a hand back through his hair. He had ditched his vest, leaving him in an untucked shirt and slacks and looking pretty disheveled, an effect that was mounting with the worried crease between his eyes. "I don't know what to say, Sakura."

"Say what you were going to say on the boat."

"What does that matter?" he demanded. He sounded exasperated, something she was really beginning to relate to.

Sakura threw another punch that he easily blocked, but he didn't back away. Instead, he caught her wrist as it was still mid-throw and when she threw her other fist, blocked that one too, snaking his arm up under it and locking her forearm against his ribs. "It just _does_!" she hissed when he backed her gently up against one of the walls and conveniently limited her maneuverability. She scowled. "I told you last night: it matters because _you_ matter to me. I've already made my choice, so you don't have to worry about your opinion affecting mine or whatever bull you were talking about before."

"Bull?" he repeated.

"Yes, bull." She growled and shifted her weight forward to slip her leg between his for a throw, but he blocked her easily with his shin and then pressed his knee against the inside of her leg to disable it. "Since when do you have a problem with telling me what you think?"

Kakashi sighed. "It's not as simple as that."

Sakura regarded him with a bland look. "Explain it anyway. I'll do my best to follow along."

He rolled his eyes. "I didn't…" He trailed off, releasing one of her hands to rub at the back of his neck. "ANBU is dangerous."

"Try again," she huffed. When he made a move as if to turn away, dropping her other hand in the process, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt to stop him—to keep him in _hitting_ distance just in case. "We're on an island fighting a gang comprised of missing-nin and this isn't _half_ as dangerous as most of the stuff we've done as a team."

Kakashi said nothing in reply and Sakura shifted her weight to lean more fully into the wall as she crossed her arms and did her best to bore a hole in his skull with her stare, willing him with all her might to talk because this was just getting tedious.

"We have all night," she reminded him through ground teeth.

He glanced down at her hand twisted in his shirt and then lifted his eyes to hers. She stared back.

"Is it because you don't think I'm strong enough?" she asked after a hefty pause.

"No."

Sakura stared at him to prompt an elaboration, but when he didn't offer any she groaned and pushed both hands against his chest in protest. "You're being—"

Kakashi stopped her easily when one hand fell to grab her waist and the other covered her hands against his chest, pressing them flat to him. Her gut twisted a little at the heat that radiated from his palms against her skin and she lifted her eyes hesitantly to his. His expression was unreadable, of course, but the proximity was alarming… and exciting.

Exciting. His heart was beating rapidly under her palms and she frowned. A simple spar shouldn't have done that to someone as seasoned and physically fit as Kakashi. Her hand moved on its own to his neck, to feel his pulse under her fingertips… and then simply lingered there as her other was still being cradled to his chest by his.

"I told Tsunade-sama that I didn't think you were ready for ANBU and I wasn't lying when I said that, but I… suppose I'm not ready for that either." He stared at her for a moment, as if trying to decide if that was what he had wanted to say, and then took a breath. "I don't want to lose you… as a teammate."

That last bit was a too hastily added on, but Sakura barely noticed this as his thumb was doing interesting, undoubtedly unintentional things to her as it rubbed a slow circle into the dip of her waist. Dimly, she noted the pounding of her own heart against her ribs and in her ears. "I would still be on Team Seven, wouldn't I?" she asked quietly, trying to interrupt herself as her mind veered toward the memory of that damn, stupid dream and how much better this felt in comparison…

Because this was _really_ happening in all of its terrifying, romance-novel-esque glory.

"Technically," he agreed. Was he suddenly closer? Who had moved? "But you'll be in high demand in ANBU. Female officers are a rare commodity." He sighed and shook his head. "You're one of the few people I trust, Sakura. With everything. I think of you and me as a… team within Team Seven. I don't want to lose that. And I know that's childish. That's half the reason I didn't tell you."

Closer. Yes, definitely closer. His hand had migrated from her waist to her back and vaguely she had to wonder if this was a scene from Icha Icha. She'd swear it was.

"What was the other half?"

His breath was shallower now. She could feel it against her ear as she stood close enough to lay her forehead against his collarbones. What the hell was happening? She curled her fingers into his shirt and his hand that still covered hers squeezed gently in reply. His other hand pulled her closer—or maybe her feet were moving by themselves now too. Her free hand had moved from checking his pulse to thumbing the short hairs on the back of his neck without her so much as noticing until she felt him tremble at the touch.

"I… couldn't tell if I was being objective."

She turned her head a little, letting the bridge of her nose drag against the underside of his jaw. This should have felt weird or wrong. She shouldn't have felt compelled to let her lips trace the same path and she shouldn't have been _thrilled_ when suddenly both of Kakashi's hands were on her and pressing her closer to him. She shouldn't have wanted to be even closer _still_.

Objective.

She fingered the ties of his mask at the back of his neck and let out a shuddery breath when his fingertips slipped under the hem of her top and skated across her lower back, sending shivers up her spine and across her skin.

_Not_ objective. Because of her.

Because… _oh_.

A loud _bang_ broke the fragile silence in the room as the bathroom door was struck from within. Instantly, the pair separated from each other in surprise, both of them drawing kunai and taking defensive stances.

Another _bang_. Muffled screaming. Another _bang_.

Sakura stared at the bathroom door as it shuddered violently under another assault and then looked to Kakashi.

They both had the decency to blush when their eyes met.

"I'll, um, go check on Aika, I think," she whispered.

Kakashi nodded, one hand anxiously rubbing at the back of his neck. "I'll take care of him." He stared at her for a moment longer and then took a breath. "Sakura, we should… talk about this. Later."

Sakura's hands were trembling and she felt equal parts sick and euphoric. Her thoughts were a jumbled mess and even though she wanted badly to say something right then, she knew that to try would have been completely pointless. She settled for nodding and murmuring in agreement. "Later."

* * *

1. Oh finally! It's done! Thanks so much for bearing with me through all of this, guys. My schedule has been so hectic and crazy lately that I haven't had a lot of time to write.

2. Stop! Do not throw rotten vegetation! Violence against the author will not help you! I know the ending was a total tease, but look! There's progress! Something's happened!

3. Lots of things happened, actually. I really don't like this chapter. It's a lot of events condensed down and it feels sort of clumsy, but I don't want to spend ten chapters on this mission so we're going to the clumsy, condensed route. Sorry.

4. I direct you guys to my blog (link posted in profile) where I have a post detailing the clothes our leading man and lady are wearing. I couldn't help myself.

5. I have no rants other than about how exhausted and ill I've been lately and those rants would be boring and much more like whining than ranting, so I will refrain.

6. So, Sakura didn't actually answer Kakashi (this will be addressed), but she did turn down the ANBU invite. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Sakura is too caring and too rooted in her ethics and morals to ever be an effective black-ops agent. I want this to sort of illustrate a more mature Sakura, one who understands herself and her weaknesses. It's not easy to know yourself that well.

7. More randomly: I've been mulling an Ino/Genma one-shot or three-parter around in my head. Anyone interested in that getting posted?

8. Another thanks to Exodia-Girl. She helped me tweak that last scene so that I could bring the UST to you in High-Def, Not-Shit-o-Vision.

(**Man, I'm exhausted, guys. I'm sorry that the notes were lackluster. Maybe next chapter they'll be better. For now, please review!)**


	27. In Which Things Take a Step Back

**House Calls**

**Chapter 27  
**

* * *

They had chosen one of the inside conference rooms to avoid having to cover windows and removed the clock to remove his sense of time. Kakashi had placed seals in the room that would disrupt the flow of chakra within the space. In return for the short lecture he gave her on how the seal worked, Sakura explained the stimulant she had used to drug the man, sending his senses into overdrive. It would push him into a state of paranoia and panic, making jittery and uncomfortable. It would have roused him into consciousness shortly after it was introduced in his system and made sleep from then on out impossible.

Kakashi filed that away among all of the _other_ reasons to never anger her.

"So," he began, leaning against the wall on one side of the conference room door. "You never answered me."

This was probably not the best ice breaker to follow up what had been a very tension-filled night, but it was the only one to spring to mind and it had been bothering him. Sure, her answer was kind of inferred. He needed to hear it, though. Actually… he needed to hear a lot of things right then, but those could wait.

Sakura was standing on the other side of the door with her back to the wall, her belt and hip-pouch fastened over her nondescript dress and slouched low to the right. He was only then beginning to appreciate the anonymity in that look. Women in nearly every country that experienced warmer weather wore similar garments and her bag wasn't standard issue but rather simple leather. Sakura, as much as she could, looked generic. Not an easy task, he knew.

"I told him that I was happy to be on call to treat returning officers, but that I didn't think I was right for anything full-time." She took a breath and glanced his way. "Kakashi, last night…" she began but trailed off, her eyes wandering away again.

"Was… something," he murmured to the ceiling as he once again caught himself thinking about how it had felt to have his arms around her.

"That's one way of putting it." Her lips quirked slightly at the corner in amusement and he found himself grateful for it as she sighed next and glued her eyes to the floor. "We should—"

"Finish this first."

She looked to him then and her smile widened a little. "Exactly."

Kakashi, with relief washing over him at the sight of her smile and at their returning balance, smiled back and then looked to the door. "So," he began. "Our guest has had a lot of time to think."

"He has," Sakura agreed. "What do we do if we can't handle these guys just by ourselves? Things can get messy quick if his friends start to suspect something."

"I'm taking care of it."

She raised an eyebrow at him but then nodded. "Fine. Now what?"

He glanced at the door again and then reached into his pocket to remove a small, radio transmitter. "How would you like a taste of black-ops?"

"I'd ask what a taste entails," Sakura replied, narrowing her eyes as she accepted the device and tucked it away in her bodice.

Kakashi smiled to himself. "He probably isn't going to tell us everything without some incentive to do so."

"And you want me to do what exactly?" she asked, turning to rest her hip against the wall as she crossed her arms. "I took him down. Aren't you supposed to handle this stuff?"

He shrugged easily. "You've got get your feet wet some time." He glanced over at her, trying to gauge her reaction. "Look, he doesn't have any qualities of a shinobi and if he was the one sent to romance Aika we're dealing with a conman. Scaring him into telling us what we want to know shouldn't be hard, especially since he already has a pretty good reason to be afraid of you. Just convince him that it's in his best interest to cooperate."

Sakura frowned. "Any guidance to offer besides that?"

Kakashi stared thoughtfully at the ceiling and shrugged as he looked to her again. "Smile pretty."

She scowled at him briefly before her eyes lowered contemplatively to the floor. He watched her with interest as the gears turned in her mind and after a few long moments, she reached for her hip-pouch and withdrew a single senbon from a brace of them tucked among the vials.

Sakura twirled it briefly between her fingers and then looked to him again "You sure?" she asked.

"I trust you."

The medic hummed skeptically and as he opened the door to let her inside, Kakashi had to wonder why that felt like a confession.

* * *

Sakura's experience with interrogation was limited to demanding answers out of the boys, asking patients how they had injured themselves (it was amazing how similarly stubborn children and trained ninja could be about admitting to some things), and occasionally digging for information on a mission. Usually, however, she was content to leave this particular kind of interrogation up to Kakashi, who was experienced, or Sai, who could apparently be exceptionally frightening if his victims' reactions were anything to go by.

She glanced back at the door and scowled. She smelled a ploy. A tall, overprotective ploy with uncombed hair and a lop-sided smile poking her in the back and saying, "I want you to be really, _really_ sure you don't want to join ANBU."

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned again toward her subject.

They covered the basics of interrogation at the Academy. After all, not knowing how to ask a question could be just as dangerous to a mission as answering one because it always meant giving away _some _information. A seasoned interrogator could avoid this for the most part, could even trip a clever opponent up by giving away conflicting information or misleading them entirely with a bluff. An inexperienced interrogator could blow an entire op. There was a reason that there was an entire branch of ANBU dedicated to the practice.

The medic circled around the blindfolded and bound Eiji in the chair at the center of the room, positioned so that his back was to the door, and then looked down at the senbon in her fingers. She twirled it again and then moved to the chair positioned opposite of the man, who was twitching and fidgeting, his head turning toward the sound of her footsteps and his breathing speeding up.

She eyed the man critically. Detach, she told herself. Just do it this one time and see how it feels. He was a part of the same group that mangled Eri's hand to prove a point, the same group that was terrorizing this place because they _could_, and the man that had been string a long and taking advantage of a very naive Aika.

Eiji nearly jumped out of his skins at the loud, metallic _bang_ that echoed through the room as Sakura lifted the chair and then forcefully slammed it back into place on the tiled floors. He jerked against the bindings, his hands clenching with white-knuckled intensity.

"Hello, Eiji," Sakura greeted as she circled behind him. "I'm sorry if I woke you. How did you sleep?"

At this proximity she could see that he was shaking. "Who are you?"

"Oh, that's not important."

"Then what do you want?"

She shrugged and slid easily into her seat. "Maybe I just want to get to know you, Eiji-kun," she replied with a shrug as she reclined back, propping one elbow on the back of the chair and resting her head in her opened palm. "Maybe you just intrigue me."

Eiji squirmed. "Look, if this is about money, I don't have any."

"Then it's fortunate for you it isn't." Sakura smiled and ran her thumb over one sharpened end of the senbon. "I want information. I want to know all about who you're working for."

"I work at the teashop," he muttered.

She shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Eiji-kun, I don't appreciate it when my friends lie to me," she said, extending a foot and hooking it under his chair to drag him closer to her. She took the pinkie of his left hand between her fingers and smiled as he tensed. "Why don't you try that again?"

He seemed to freeze entirely as the tip of the senbon was swept under his nail, removing the dirt and perhaps just barely scraping against the skin. "I work at a teashop," he ground out.

There was something about _hands_, something that made the threat of injury to them much more cringe-inducing. This was only natural. Most people had injured a finger at some point in their lives, giving them some basis of comparison when it came to the idea of having injury inflicted upon their digits. Hands were also fragile and sensitive and unlike eyes or arms, most people generally had ten fingers (_and_ ten toes).

All together, there was just something about being blindfolded around someone holding a sharp object.

"Again?" she prodded and this time, as she swept the senbon tip under his nail, she gouged it into the soft nail bed just hard enough to draw blood. His whole body jerked and he attempted to clench his fist to pull away from her, but she held tight, squeezing the finger between hers in a vice grip than had him swearing. "Whoops!" she said happily and then inspected the bloodied point. "Here, let me get that for you."

Green chakra engulfed their joined hands and he jumped at the feeling, his lips pulling into a frown.

Physically torturing an enemy in order to obtain information didn't traditionally work, Sakura knew. Most people would say anything to make the pain stop, good ninja could usually withstand it, and others still saw it as a chance to martyr themselves for their cause. So, anyone with two brain cells to rub together understood that mercilessly pounding on someone didn't help.

But if corralling unruly patients at the hospital had taught Sakura anything, it was that a _little_ pain mixed with an imagination let to run wild could go a _long_ way. Mix _that_ with the fact that criminals, for the most part, were unreliable and self-serving and you had yourself an interesting cocktail.

Sakura pursed her lips. "I was originally trained as a medic," she said quietly like she was telling a secret as she twirled the senbon. "Good thing too. I mean, it's good to know that if I happen to slip up and hurt you, I can just fix it. Over and over and over again if need be. Lucky you." She pulled her hand away, wiping the blood away from his fingertip gently and smiling. "Better?"

His breathing sped up again in reply, his nostrils flaring with every breath as he contemplated her words.

"Given your position, I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that you only report to your bosses when you have information to pass on," Sakura continued in a soft, even tone. "I bet we could keep you here for _days_ without them knowing." She lifted her eyes to his face as she again slipped the point of the senbon under another of his nails. "It'll give you and me a lot of time to get acquainted."

"I have to check in eventually!" he snapped abruptly. He squirmed in his seat as if attempting to sit up straight, "You keep me here and it won't matter what you find out!"

"You don't think we planned for that?" she asked. "The Harada Clan is going on a vacation to visit some relatives on the main land. They'll be gone for a few weeks and guess who Aika-chan introduced to the family last night and who's going with them?" She reached over and pinched his cheek mockingly. "Your boss is going to be so proud of you. You're taking a trip with the Harada girl, you're smiling nice for her family, and you're going to have all kinds of information when you get back. Most people can only wish for such devoted employees."

"They'll be watching the boat! They'll see I'm not—"

"I'm sure they will," she said with a smile, "Which is why they _are_ going to see you walk right onto that boat. Or at least it'll look like you." She tipped her head to the side. "Let me sum up your situation, Eiji-kun. Harada is paying us to clean house and that can happen in one of two ways: you expedite the process for us by telling us what we want to know or you don't and while we're busy gathering the information ourselves we take out all of our frustrations on _you_. Over and over and—"

* * *

"Here."

"What's this?"

Sakura sighed as Kakashi plucked the folded piece of paper from her fingers. "A list of their targets and the times they'll be hit up for money." She leaned back against the conference room door and looked to him. "They're a small gang. You have five three-man teams with one man who knows that face-blindness jutsu functioning as a collector, one man there to act as the muscle, and one as surveillance. Each team has a section of the city that they work and they each do as many as five collections a night. Only a few of them were ranked Jonin before abandoning their villages and the others are just rabble."

If he was surprised by this, it didn't show as he unfolded the page. "Nice work," he murmured. "What about their boss?"

She smiled, because this was the first piece of good news they had all week. "His name is Arashi Hideo and he pretty much stays in the shadows. More of a strategist and brain than a fighter; he has the owner of a bar in the northern district in his pocket. He hangs out there with a few bodyguards while his men do the pick-ups. If we take him out first…"

Kakashi hummed at this. "If your friend in there is lying, we could just end up giving notice of our presence and then having to deal with the repercussions. I'd rather wait until the boys to get here."

"Naruto and Sai?"

He nodded. "I sent Pakkun for them this morning. Lucky for us, they were still in the village when he got there. They'll arrive by the afternoon and help us take down the collection teams. Then we can take down Arashi."

"Divide and conquer."

"Except they're doing half the work for us." He folded the note and tucked it away in his shirt pocket before glancing sideways at Sakura. "So… how did you like it?"

Sakura hummed in response and looked to him, frowning a little. "What were you hoping that would accomplish?" she asked. "Did you think I'd change my mind?"

"I wanted you to be sure." He pushed away from the wall as he slid his hands into his pockets and looked to her again, this time holding her gaze. "I also wanted you to know that you _could_ do it, if you wanted."

A part of her realized that this meant _he_ thought she could do it, that his disapproving of her joining ANBU really didn't have anything to do with thinking her incapable. The notion set to motion a dozen butterflies in her stomach and when she looked to him, she had to clear a lump from throat and look away. "For your information I hated it. If you make me do it again I'll jab senbon needles under _your_ fingernails."

Kakashi spared a surreptitious glance at the door. For a moment, a smile played out in his eyes, but it vanished just as quickly as he looked back to her. "Where are you going?"

Sakura, who was already halfway down the hallway, turned to face him even as she kept moving. "I'm going to check on Aika again. She was still asleep when I checked on her last night and when she woke this morning she locked herself away in her bedroom and wouldn't let anyone in. Now that she's had a little time to cool down, I'd better take a crack at it. Want to come with?"

"Mah, no thanks. I think I'd rather keep our guest company."

* * *

There was only one door into Aika's personal suite, against which something had been shattered when Jin had knocked and announced Sakura's presence.

"She's being ridiculous," Eri huffed, with her arms folded.

Sakura made a face. "That's kind of to be expected."

"So… are you going to break down the door? That'd be kind of cool."

"But not strictly necessary. Does her room have a balcony?"

"Um, yeah?"

Sakura smiled and waved at Jin to stay at the door. Eri, frowning all the while, led Sakura into her personal suite right beside Aika's. She followed Sakura onto the balcony and watched wide-eyed as the medic climbed onto the railing and then took a chakra-enhanced leap toward the balcony off of Aika's room.

Sakura landed neatly and turned to motion at Eri to go back inside before removing a set of lock-picks from her hip bag. She could hear Jin through the balcony doors still knocking and trying to reason with Aika and eased them open just in time to spot the girl hefting a small lamp to throw. "Aika, put that down."

The girl turned sharply, startled. "How did you get in here?" she asked.

Her cheeks were tear-stained and her eyes bloodshot. Her hair was pulled back in a messy ponytail and she was wrapped in a comfortable and oversized robe (break-up garb, as Ino would call it). "Being a ninja has advantages," Sakura replied. "Put the lamp down. Put it down… there you go. Now, let's talk about this."

Aika sniffled at wiped at her cheek with her sleeve. "You wouldn't understand."

Sakura let out a derisive, muffled giggle. "Yeah, uh, I spent most of my teen-aged years in love with someone who eventually betrayed me, my friends, my village, and my country as a whole."

The blond stared at her for a long moment. "Okay. You win," she said finally, moving to a chaise and slumping into it with her arms folded protectively around her middle.

Sakura smiled. "Have you eaten anything?"

"No."

"Do you have a manicure set?"

"Yes?"

Ah, finally: something to work with. "Good. We'll invite Eri in, we'll get some food, and then we'll fill our faces, do our nails, and complain about boys and how stupid they are."

* * *

Sakura's time at the hospital training the newest generation of medic-nin and her years with the Konoha Eleven had provided her with all of the knowledge required to play the roles of mother and big sister whenever the need arose. This had practical applications on the job. If there was one thing that most mass murderers and corrupt leaders had in common it was self-pity. More often than seducing them, Sakura found herself lending them a shoulder to cry on for the night or an ear with which to hear out all of their complaints.

It came in handy for girl-talk too.

"I really liked him," Aika pouted into her fruity cocktail. "I thought he liked me too and he was just using me? Daddy and Jin won't ever let me live this down."

Sakura hummed as she unraveled a very hesitant Eri's bandaged hand. "If it makes you feel any better, he seems to be a through and through weasel; probably makes a living out of lying."

"It doesn't."

The medic glanced the heiress' way and then looked back to Eri. "Well, if it would make you feel any better, I could probably find some time later to make him cry like a little girl?"

A small smile pulled at Aika's lips that she tried in vain to hide. "That might help."

Sakura nodded and pulled the bandage away completely, making Eri gasp in surprise at the sight of her unmarred skin. "We'll have to put this back on to maintain appearances, but I just wanted you to see that it really is okay. We had to keep our identities a secret at the time and it would've been hard to explain how I reatta—well, the details aren't important. You can unwrap it when you reach the mainland."

"_Wow_," Eri murmured. "There's not even a scar or anything!" She looked to Sakura, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she began to rewrap her hand. "I, um… don't remember much about what happened…?"

The medic smiled back. "You're welcome." She glanced back over her shoulder at a still sulking Aika and then turned again to Eri as she tucked the end of the bandage in place. "How does dessert sound?"

Eri spared a look in her cousin's direction as well and nodded. "That sounds great," she said, sliding off of the couch and onto her feet. "I'll go see what I can have brought up."

Sakura watched her go and then got to her feet as well and moved to sit at the foot of the chaise that Aika had curled up on. "I know it's a cliché," she began carefully as she faced the girl, "And I know that at sixteen, this sort of thing seems like it's the end of your whole world, but there _are_ other fish in the sea."

"I know," Aika muttered. "It's just… when we first met he acted like he didn't know who I was. And I liked that. I mean, I'm always going to be an _heiress_ and the people I meet are always going to know that too, so it was kind of nice that someone didn't seem to know or really care." She sighed and buried her face in her knees. "This is what I've always been afraid of. I mean, not this _specifically_, but this sort of situation… getting used like this. I feel like an idiot, you know?"

Sakura stared at the girl for a long moment and then sighed and shook her head. "Aika, I can say from experience that acting like an idiot is just a part of growing up," she said, laying her hand on the girl's knee and smiling. "From now on you'll play your cards a little closer to your chest and take comfort in knowing that when the time comes, you'll know when you're really in love."

The heiress looked skeptical as she sniffled and shifted to sit up a little more. "How?"

"You just will," the medic replied. She laughed at Aika's doubtful frown and flipped a lock of hair over her shoulder. "I promise. You'll meet a boy someday and even when he's driving you crazy, he's making you laugh and just being with him will make you feel… better. Stronger. When you fall for him you might not even notice it happening because it'll just feel natural, like it had always been that way."

Aika smiled a little even as she bit into her bottom lip. "Thanks, Mai-chan."

Sakura smiled even as something in her gut clenched. "No problem."

* * *

There were pros and cons to having schedules. Schedules allowed an organized unit to _be_ organized. They allowed the individuals of a group to coordinate their actions without needing to be in constant communication and provided grounding in what could be chaotic situations. It wasn't easy to direct a large group of people from afar without structure.

The downside? It was a _schedule_. Predictable targets tended to be a ninja's favorite sort of target because knowing exactly where your prey was going to be at a certain time? The job didn't get much easier than that.

Sakura muted her steps to a bare whisper as she crossed the rooftop toward a man who was crouching on the far ledge with the best view of the bakery across the street. He was young, wiry and built like an acrobat. A scout. If allowed to get away, she had no doubt that he could give her a run for her money.

Not that he'd get that chance.

A sleeper hold, also known as a blood choke, placed pressure on the carotid arteries rather than the trachea, limiting blood flow to the brain instead of air to the lungs. It wasn't difficult to apply to someone already in a weak position and not only did it result in unconsciousness much faster—within a few seconds if applied correctly—it was also less dangerous to the intended victim.

Sakura knelt over the now unconscious man, one knee pressed into his lower back as she bound his hands with rope and her eyes on the street below. She lifted a hand to her ear piece, activating the microphone. "Okay, Sai. You're clear to move when you see them."

_"Confirmed."_

It was only a moment later that the goons, one built much like Gai and the other smaller but no less athletic in appearance, barely stepped out of the bakery door before Sai descended on them. He dropped directly down onto the team's enforcer, driving his knee into the back of the man's head and sending him face-first into the sidewalk. The other man drew a knife and caught Sai from behind as the ex-ROOT agent was getting to his feet. In one clean motion, he slit the pale boy's throat.

Sakura watched in mild interest as the ink clone fell apart in the collector's arms and then she smiled as Sai stepped casually out from inside the bakery and kicked one of the man's legs out from under him from behind. When he hit the pavement on his knees, Sai drove an elbow just as nonchalantly into the side of his head.

Sakura was a good bit more interested when the ex-ROOT agent lifted both arms and inky snakes slithered out from under his the shirt-cuffs. They twined their bodies tightly around the two unconscious men on the ground and then squeezed tight, drawing all of their limbs inward and immobilizing them. "New tattoos?" she asked with a hand to her earpiece.

He looked up at her and she saw him smile faintly in the light from the streetlamp. _"Yes. Do you like them?"_

"Very much."

* * *

They regrouped briefly behind one of the shops, where a handful of officers from the island's police force were stationed to watch over the bound and gagged crews. After a briefing, they split up again with Kakashi and Sakura making their way to the bar and Naruto and Sai moving out to take on the last collections group.

Kakashi had a long list of reasons why he preferred working with Sakura. It started with the fact that she could be subtle and deceptive when the situation called for it (skills that eluded Naruto) and pleasant company while at it (something that eluded Sai). After all, she might not have been much of a seducer, but in a pair of shorts and sandals she could be just as distracting as any beautiful woman. This proved useful when she called over one of the two men guarding the door of the bar, leaving the other open.

Kakashi tapped the remaining guard's shoulder from behind and when the man turned he drove his fist directly into his nose. Then, before the man could stagger away, the Copy-nin grabbed him around the back of the head and pushed him down as he brought his knee up.

"Hey!"

Kakashi turned sharply to the voice, but before the other guard could make a move, Sakura grabbed the man by the wrist, twisting his arm into a locked position and then kicking his leg out from under him with a blow that struck against the back of his knee. Still holding his wrist, even as he collapsed to the ground, Sakura lifted her foot again and delivered a sharp kick to the man's ribs that threw him into the pavement.

"When we get inside, go after Arashi," Kakashi said as they moved to the door. "I'll take care of any other guards."

Sakura nodded and he followed her closely as she led the way inside.

The bar was comfortable and rustically furnished with low-lighting and a heavy, smoke-filled atmosphere. Six men; five enforcers crowded around a fairer, slenderer man wearing a sleek pair of glasses. They were seated at a table in the corner opposite of bar and a curtained doorway that no doubt led to some kind of secondary exit.

"This is a private party," the bespectacled man, Arashi, spoke with narrowed eyes.

Another man, however, began to grin. "The girl could probably stay though."

Kakashi noted Sakura's narrowing eyes but quickly turned his attention back to the men as he took a few steps closer, his hands in his pockets. Sakura, meanwhile, made her way over to the bar, lifted a still-corked glass bottle from just behind it as if to check the label. "We're terribly sorry for the interruption," he said coolly, "but a friend of ours—his name's Eiji—told us that we could find Arashi Hideo here."

The reaction was instantaneous. The enforcers leapt to the feet and Arashi bolted out of his chair. Sakura reacted in the next second, throwing the bottle and downing one of the enforcers charging her as she took took a running leap onto the bar.

Kakashi lifted a nearby chair easily, sidestepped the first man that reached him, tripped him with an extended foot, and then broke the chair over his back. Dropping the remains he blocked a swing from a second goon and then caught the man's leg as he raised it to kick him. The Copy-nin shifted his weight and then brought his front leg up and swept the attacker's remaining leg up from under him throwing him onto the floor.

From the corner of his eye he saw Sakura reach the end of the bar just as Arashi neared the secondary exit. She jumped and collided with the man, driving her knee into the side of his head and sending him crashing into the opposing wall, unconscious.

"Sakura!" he called out in warning just as a fourth guard charged him with a knife drawn. He lifted one arm and easily blocked the hand wielding the blade with an underhanded grip and then drove his other fist into the man's throat.

At the warning, Sakura dropped into a backbend, narrowly avoiding a chair being swung by the last of the men, levelled at her head. She straightened immediately and took advantage of the opening the missed swing gave her by lunging forward and shoulder-checking the man into the nearest table.

"You seemed to recognize him," Kakashi noted after the brief moment they both took to breathe and survey the damage

"Not him. Just his voice," she huffed as she removed a set of restraints from her hip pouch and secured the man's hands behind his back. "He's the one I dealt with when we traded for Eri."

Probably the one who had mangled the poor girl's hand, Kakashi realized. Also the one that he thought he had heard Sakura call a "lecherous waste of skin", but he hadn't and still didn't want to tempt riling her up by asking.

He lifted a hand to his earpiece as he knelt to restrain one of the other men. "Naruto? How are you doing?"

_"Heh, well given how awesome we are, what do you think? What about you and Sakura-chan?"_

Kakashi shared a look with Sakura and smiled. "We managed to resolve things the civilized way: with a good, old-fashioned bar brawl."

_"Aw, man! You two get all the fun!"_

"We'll make it up to you with breakfast in the morning."

_"I'm holding you to that, sensei! Out!"_

He chuckled to himself and then looked to Sakura as she was binding Arashi's hands.

The mission was over.

The mission was over and in the morning they'd be on a boat on their way back to Fire with no reason to keep putting off the inevitable discussion. The inevitable, awkward discussion.

He took a breath and looked away just as Sakura turned to look at him.

There was no getting out of it, was there? Running to Mist on that mission hadn't helped; cutting himself off from her just made everything worse. _Ignoring_ what he felt just made the moments that slammed home exactly what was happening all the more painful and acute. Telling himself that she didn't feel the same? Even he had never fully mastered the ability to lie well enough to fool _himself_ because it wasn't camaraderie and familial affection that fueled the want and need within him, that had guided the fleeting touches of her mouth and hands the night before.

But at the same time the prospect of following through, of letting those feelings guide him, scared him more than most of the battles he had fought in his life. The battlefield was at least familiar territory.

* * *

Sakura held off on panicking until they reached the hotel again, whereupon as soon as she shut her suite door she proceeded to completely freak out. Grueling hospital shifts had gifted her with this particular ability. It was usually better to first treat someone whose liver was fractured or whose femur was sticking out of their flesh before letting it bother her and, well, walking out of the room before shuddering and cringing so was only polite.

Her anxiety proceeded to keep her awake all night and even determinedly dogged her as she boarded the boat the next morning. Her thoughts were still racing, so quickly and so loudly that she wasn't even distracted from them by Naruto, who was hot on her heels and yammering excitedly because they had to take one of the crummy, high-speed ferries and this was one of the Harada Clan's personal vessels and was that _breakfast_?

It was. A catered, beautiful breakfast of some of the healthiest and most beautifully presented food Sakura had ever seen. Nevertheless, she excused herself from the table two bites into her omelet and toast and found a comfortable place to on the deck at the rear of the boat.

"I'm beginning to wonder about you."

Kakashi. He always knew where to find her, didn't he? She spared a cautious glance his way. It just wasn't thinkable that he had come for the express purpose of talking. More likely, he just didn't want to be seen as actively _avoiding_ it and she was grateful for that. "Why?" she asked.

He shrugged and turned his head to look out at the sea around them. The medical mask and disposable gloves were gone, as were the crisp, cotton shirts and trousers, replaced by the standard issue fatigues and flak jacket that she knew so well. "You barely ate anything."

"Does it count that I gorged myself on junk yesterday with Eri and Aika?" she asked, smiling and invitingly patting the empty seat beside her despite the nervous fluttering in her stomach.

Kakashi snorted. "You're the medic," he rebuffed teasingly. "Does it?"

Sakura laughed, but neither of them spoke as he sank down into the seat beside her and averted their eyes.

Well, this was off to a painfully productive start, wasn't it? Even worse: she was doomed to speak first. If she left it up to Kakashi, it was very possible that they would never get around to actually talking. Not that she was eager to get to that part. She was certain that nothing good could come of it, that they wouldn't be joyfully jumping into each other's arms afterwards, but rather struggling to even look each other in the eye.

Like they already were.

Not that jumping into his arms was what she wanted. In fact, half of her panic had stemmed from the fact that she wasn't sure what she wanted. The idea of having something more with anyone was out of her comfort zone. The idea of having something more with _Kakashi_? The very thought pulled her in a hundred directions at once. How could she make that choice?

"Everything's changed," she said aloud with her eyes trained on the horizon.

Kakashi nodded. He was seated with his legs opened and his elbows on his knees as he bore a hole in the floor with his stare. "That's one way of putting it."

She let out a small, reluctant chuckle and took a breath. "I don't even know when that happened," she murmured. "It wasn't that long ago that we weren't complicated." She glanced at him and then looked away again quickly, tucking a loose lock of hair behind her ears. "I'm not sure where to start."

Kakashi shrugged as he took in a slow breath. "If you show me your cards, I'll show you mine," he offered.

She should have called that, she thought wryly. "Maybe I don't want my opinion to taint yours," she teased out of reflex as she shot him a sideways look.

Amusement danced in his eye and his lips twitched under his mask. "It won't, I promise."

Sakura smiled too as she tipped her head back to stare into the sky.

She wanted him. She had realized this the night before. She wanted him because he made her laugh even when she didn't want to and he made her feel crazy, made her careless, made all of her insecurities vanish just by being there. "You're not an easy man to get close to, Kakashi," she said at length, the words coming readily despite the anxiety and tension twisting in her stomach. "It's been an uphill fight to even get where we are, you know."

He nodded slowly. "I know."

"It's been worth it though, I think. You're worth it." She looked down to her lap and fingered the hem of her skirt. "Now things are changing and the fact is… it scares me. I can't risk losing you."

* * *

They were always on the same page. Kakashi wasn't sure if he was grateful for that fact or not just then as he let it soak in. Was he _supposed _to be relieved that she was just as confused as he was?

"Your turn," Sakura prompted after a heavy pause.

His turn. Couldn't he just say 'me too' and have done with this? He sighed and looked her way, noting how she was being very careful to look anywhere but at him.

She made life worth living in between missions. Should he tell her that? The days that were hard, that hurt, that just sucked; she made them better with her presence. Did he say that he even liked it when she barged into his apartment and pushed him out of bed because it was just nice to have her as a constant in his life?

"You're the best thing in my life, Sakura."

He heard her sharp intake of breath, noted the way she kept her eyes focused dead ahead, wondered if her heart was pounding as hard as his.

"I can't risk that either."

He thought he saw her hand shake a little, but maybe that was wishful thinking. "So… now what?" she asked, playing with her fingers.

Kakashi let out a long breath. "We can just take a step back, to think about things. To get our heads on straight."

Sakura nodded in agreement and then turned to look at him with her mouth set into a firm line and a no-nonsense gleam in her eyes. "I still want us to be us," she said. "If you run from me, Hatake…"

He creased an eye at her in reply to fake the smile he couldn't quite muster. "Same to you."

* * *

1. I really do love you guys (even if it might not seem like it). You're the whole reason this is even still being written.

2. Right now, I really wish I could give you guys an estimation on how much longer this is going to take, but I won't. There's not need to rush it.

3. FANART! I have a ton of new fanart posted in my profile. A piece from Drielme ("umhermione" on DA) and several pieces from kamikazesusan and they all make me squee so hard.

4. COMMUNITY! The wonderful nmmi-nut is a crazy lady and has formed a House Calls community on DA. If you want to come by, check out the art, and have a chat I will so be there. There are links in my profile to both my DA page (LadyofSnark) and to the community itself. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys there!

5. Now for chapter related things: I don't much care for how the rest of the mission went down, but again we are taking the condensed route here. Kind of why I called in Naruto and Sai, because Sakura and Kakashi would have had to get very Sun Tzu in order to take out all of the collection teams by themselves. Also, Sakura dips her toe into the interrogation pond. This scene was inspired by... boredom. I guess. Kakashi interrogating a guy, yeahokayfine. Sakura kinda cutting loose and putting on her bitch face? Now that's entertainment. Also, Eiji wasn't supposed to be a trained shinobi. It's why he cracked so quickly. That and who wants a sharp, metal object shoved under their fingernails? (If you 'pft' at that, just poke yourself a little too hard under your nail with a tooth pick or something and you'll get the idea.) Also, torture really doesn't work as an interrogation technique. Physical torture anyways.

6. Say it with me: You will not lynch me for the ending. You didn't really think that it was going to be all hugs and kisses and sex so soon, did you? We're building a relationship here, people.

7. Next chapter, you can look forward to a return to the formula that we started this thing with. I know that I promised that before, but I really mean it now. There will be ANBU and injured teams and comedy galore.

8. Also, there will be some more touching on Kakashi's background and maybe another visit from Sakura's family. Also, we will deal with Ino, readdress the Sharingan situation, chat with Ibiki, and eventually there may be another Genma spotting!

9. Random stuff: I hate writing fight scenes. It's so difficult and I envy people who do them well.

**(So, this update was faster. Also, shorter. But faster. I'm trying to get back to an every week/every other week schedule, so ye may all rejoice and hope nothing huge comes up to get in the way of that. Now, I'm almost afraid to ask, but please review?)**


	28. In Which There are Signals and Codes

**House Calls**

**Chapter 28**

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Note:** I'm so sorry, guys. This would have been up much sooner if FFn had allowed.**  
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* * *

The day immediately following Team Seven's return to Konoha was fairly uneventful, even for Sakura. As exhausted as she was, she expected to come home to a squad bleeding in her kitchen, but apparently there was an unspoken set of guidelines in place that barred visits to the "Haruno Clinic" for some time following her return from a mission. Sakura wondered a little at who was responsible for that (her money was on Tsunade).

However, things took a turn the following day when a letter via courier arrived at Sakura's home. The indignant anger the letter ignited in Sakura was enough to cut in half the time it took her to arrive at the Hokage Tower and stomp her way passed the guards at Tsunade's office door (they were no more inclined to get in her way than her master's).

"May I kill him?"

Tsunade smirked a little as she looked up to a frustrated Sakura standing on the other side of her desk. "No," she said, holding the letter in her hand back out to the girl. "You may not."

Sakura scowled. "_Please_?"

"Well, in the good old days when Kiri and Konoha were at each other's throats, I might have been able to arrange something. As it stands, they _are_ an ally now and his connection Mei technically makes him something of an ambassador."

"I don't know. This could probably count as a hostile act."

Tsunade chuckled. "Sakura, you cannot kill one of the Mizukage's bodyguards because he wrote a coded response to you in Kiri kotoba."

"No, I _could_. You just won't let me."

The blonde shook her head as she reached into her desk for a second sake dish and then tipped some sake into it from the jug on her right. "Here," she said. "Have a drink and take a seat."

Sakura growled and dragged a chair around the desk to sit before accepting the dish and throwing it back in one shot. "I thought you said Mei would make Ao help."

"Mei probably didn't read over his response," Tsunade replied with a shrug. "What did you ask him for?"

"I asked for a report on his transplanted Byakugan; how the procedure was done, how he maintains it despite not having the correct bloodline, if he's developed any problems with it," Sakura huffed. "It shouldn't have been anything he'd object to! I swear, if he's standing between me and fixing Kakashi's Sharingan I'm going to find him and gouge _both_ of his eyes out."

"Sakura, for as much faith as I have in you, the man _is_ a hunter-nin with over thirty years of battlefield experience," Tsunade sighed, "You'd need back-up."

"You'd be surprise what Sai will do when given orders."

The Hokage raised an eyebrow at her charge as she pulled a file into her lap and leaned back in her chair. "Taking advantage of Sai's training? This really has gotten you riled up."

"I'm just tired of doing all of this work with no results to show for it," Sakura muttered back. "I told Kakashi that I'd fix his Sharingan. I told _myself_ that I'd fix it."

Tsunade sighed. "If you are really that determined, it might be worth finding out what he said." She reached over and plucked the paper from her student's hands again and skimmed it once more before handing it back. "Pass it on to Intelligence. Someone there is bound to know Kiri kotoba and we could use more information on their coding techniques anyway." She spared her student a narrow, sideways look. "So stubborn. Wherever did you learn that?"

Sakura smirked back. "Well, if Jiraiya's influence on Naruto is any indication of the effects a teacher can have on a student…"

"Hm… must be Hatake's doing. I always knew that man was a bad influence."

The pinkette laughed and got up from her chair. "Thank you, shishou."

Tsunade dismissed her with a wave of her hand.

* * *

"Oh, _Shika-kun_."

Shikamaru cracked open an eye. He was asleep under the tree in the Academy yard. Not too far away, there was a class of children busy playing and taking advantage of their brief recess. "Whatever it is the answer's no."

Sakura pouted as she dropped to the grass beside him. "C'mon, you haven't even heard me out."

"Anything that starts with _that_ tone can't be good," he replied. "The years I've known you and Ino have taught me that."

"Look, it's just a small favor."

The Nara sighed and pushed himself to sit up. "I doubt that, but lay it on me anyway."

Sakura smiled and passed the letter to him. "I need this translated… and decoded."

Shikamaru spared her a confused look as he accepted the page. He unfolded it carefully as if it might bite him and skimmed a few lines. "What _is_ this?" he asked.

"Kiri-kotoba."

His head slumped forward dramatically, sagging between his shoulders. "Sakura, c'mon!" he groaned. "This hasn't been a common language in probably a hundred years! How long do you think it's been since anyone in Konoha has studied it? And how do you know it's coded?"

"Tsunade-sama said it was. I guess she knows enough of that kotoba to get the gist of it and it's basically a 'hi, how are you?' deal when my pen-pal is not exactly that kind of guy." She scooted closer to him as he slumped back into the tree, planting a hand on his knee when he covered his eyes with his arm. "Okay, I know it's not a _small_ favor—"

"Yeah!" he cut in with an exasperated look.

"But it's really important to me!" she insisted. "I need to know what this says and I don't know enough people in Intelligence to get it done but the Nara clan has an in with that group."

Shikamaru groaned. "Don't you know people in ANBU? Ask them."

"I can't just go waltzing into ANBU headquarters and start asking for favors!" Sakura protested. Who knew what favors they'd ask in return? "Besides, I kind of want this done under the table. It's a coded message from Kiri and they're kind of a paranoid bunch. If I ask anyone connected to ANBU it'll probably disappear and I'll never hear from them again. I mean, I guess I could refuse to treat their operatives…" She trailed off, narrowing her eyes speculatively, before finally shaking her head. "No, it'll be easier this way."

"Easier for you," he muttered contemptuously as he lifted the letter again.

Sakura narrowed her eyes a little and pinched the back of his leg. "In what context are you making this _easy_ for me?"

He shot her an exasperated look as he sat up. "All right, my dad might know someone who might know someone—but that's a long shot," he interjected as she began to smile. "Even if he does, they're going to have to do it two ways. They're going to have to decode it as-is _and_ decode it translated because it's impossible to tell which way he wrote it—if he wrote and coded it in Kiri-kotoba or if he coded it in common and then translated it to Kiri-kotoba. And _that_ is assuming we can even crack the code. For being an ally, Kiri seems to rarely want us to know what they're saying. Sakura, this is going to be a real drag. If I have to start asking that many favors I'm going to have to pay up."

Sakura sighed. She was not someone who asked for favors done in return for favors she did someone else, but she knew well enough that that was the basic rule of the ninja barter system. Money only went so far, after all. Skills went farther. Someone who needed something decoded today might find themselves running errands for the decoder tomorrow.

"Then make sure that everyone knows that I'm the one asking for this," she said.

He lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Do you think that'll make a difference?"

Sakura shrugged. "It might, it might not. Depends who you end up talking to. I've treated a lot of people over the years and I've saved even more from Tsunade-sama's wrath on her bad days. Just see what you can do? Please?"

Shikamaru sighed and then glanced over at the children playing in the yard as he raked a hand back over his head. "Fine, but you're going to owe me."

"Hey! I've done you plenty of favors!"

"Yeah, well I help keep your medical supplies stocked and you go through that stuff like crazy," he muttered back.

Sakura blinked at him, sitting back a little on her heels. "Huh… I wondered how that chest never seemed to be empty," she murmured, her lips pursed. She spared him a narrow look. "Like what kind of favor?"

He spared another glance the kids' way. "I got roped into filling in for a teacher here at the Academy for the next few days…"

"Oh, come on, Shika!" she protested.

A grin pulled at his lips as he hefted himself to his feet. "Class starts again in ten!" he called.

"Nara Shikamaru!"

* * *

It wasn't as easy to take a step back as he had been hoping it would be. Where were their boundaries? Especially now that everything was out on the table because, no, they hadn't said the words, but they had certainly been understood.

Kakashi heard Sakura enter his apartment, knowing the sound of her step too well to mistake them. The dogs weren't around so there was no pausing to scratch any ears before she moved to the kitchenette, the crinkling of paper bags accompanying the sound of her sandals on the floorboards.

For all of the life that Kakashi had lived in his thirty-some years, he had never been in this situation. There had been flings in his younger years when it had been easier for him to be discreet about such things, before such trysts had lost what little meaning they held, but he had never connected with a woman as he did with Sakura. He had never felt what he did for anyone but her.

He heard her step near the door, heard her hand fall upon the knob, but did not hear the door creak open any further. Through his lashes he could see her through the narrow opening standing there as if contemplating coming inside, because apparently she wasn't sure where their boundaries were anymore either.

Kakashi would never admit, not even to himself, that he was disappointed when she turned away and disappeared again.

They hadn't talked since returning to Konoha. She had given him a smile and a good-bye at the gates, but didn't linger as if to ask him to follow and he hadn't taken the initiative to offer.

Instead Sai had volunteered to go with her and Kakashi hadn't missed the tiny frown the pale boy had shot his way even though he had made a point not to take notice of it. Naruto had been blissfully unaware of any disturbance. He hugged Sakura, punched Sai, and threw Kakashi a cheesy salute before taking off over the rooftops for home.

Before he was sure what he was doing, he slid out of bed.

Sakura was still putting groceries away and he paused in the door, leaning into the frame to watch her. She was stretching to put a box of cereal in an overhead cupboard and he told himself for the thousandth time that he'd eventually have to tell her to stop buying him groceries and to not worry so much about it all. Eventually.

Or never.

She had started that little tradition, after all.

"Yo."

She didn't jump at his voice and he smiled. She had probably heard him get up and was glad that her first instinct wasn't to immediately run for the door.

"Did I wake you?" she asked.

"Maybe."

She glanced back at him. "Sleep well?"

He scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Yeah."

Sakura placed a few apples in a bowl on his countertop (her small, but insistent plea for him to eat healthier). "So, I got a response from Kiri," she began hesitantly.

He smiled and moved closer. "Yeah?" he asked. "What did it say?"

"I have no idea," she replied, turning to pull herself up onto the counter and crossing her ankles. "It was written in Kiri-kotoba and coded."

"_Ouch_." He slumped into a folding chair at the table and turned to Sakura as he draped an arm over the back of his chair. "What did you do with it?"

"Well, _I_ suggested assassinating the responsible party for being a cheeky bastard so that I could extract his Byakugan for some hands-on learning."

He chuckled. "Exactly the sort of rational, diplomatic reaction I'd expect from you."

Sakura grinned widely at this and he found himself smiling back. "I know, right? But for some reason it didn't appeal to Tsunade-sama." She reached for an apple and drew a kunai from her thigh holster, which looked out of place with her very civilian cut-offs and tank top. "So, I passed it on to Shikamaru and he's going to have it translated and decoded for me."

"What's that costing you?"

She snorted as she began to peel the apple with smooth, delicate strokes of the blade. "He was supposed to be filling in for a teacher at the Academy for the next few days and now I'm his fill in," she replied. She shrugged and then fixed him with another perky smile as she popped a slice of apple into her mouth. "But, hey, it'll be worth it."

Kakashi nodded, staring at the mystery spot on the ceiling. "Sakura," he began, knowing already what kind of response he would get, but deciding to try anyway, "You don't _have_ to—"

"That's not up for discussion," she cut in sharply. She was twirling the kunai around a single finger now by its ringed end as she chewed. She swallowed and maneuvered the blade to grasp it by the handle once more. "Unless for some insane reason you _don't_ want to save your eye, I _am_ doing this."

Hm. No matter what she said, Kakashi had the distinct feeling that he didn't actually have any choice in the matter. "Can I help with anything?"

She shook her head. "I think I have it taken care of for now." She popped another slice of apple into her mouth.

He watched her legs swinging as they dangled over the cupboard and then looked to her eyes to find them still carefully fixed away from him. It was important to know each other's tells as partners. Sometimes, the smallest and most innocuous movements were the best kind of code because only several years of knowing and working with someone was the key to cracking it.

"Sakura, about this… us…" It even felt weird to say and by the First _what_ did he think he was doing? This wasn't his forte. "You shouldn't be so nervous."

"I'm not—" She stopped herself short as she lifted her eyes to his and saw the lift of his eyebrows. Pursing her lips, Sakura looked back to the floor. "I don't know... where we really stand, I guess. I don't want to crowd you."

But he wanted her to. The thought slipped by unabated and uncorrected. He wanted her to.

"What was that about running?" he wondered.

She glanced at him and a small smile curled over her lips. To hide it, she cut another slice of apple and slipped it into her mouth.

Kakashi watched her for a few moments in silence, watching intently as she juggled the kunai between her fingers. "When you respond to your very charming pen-pal," he began, "How do you plan to word it?"

"I considered just attaching an explosive tag. That's really the only way I could truly express my feelings towards his willingness to help."

He hummed softly. "Counter-productive."

Another smile tugged at her lips. "But satisfying." She eyed him contemplatively. "Do you have a better suggestion?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Well, it would be a shame for him to go through all of that trouble to give you that little language lesson and you not return the favor." He glanced her way, attempting to look innocent as he scratched behind his ear. "A damn shame."

"Oh, yes," she agreed very solemnly. Then, after a moment, she raised her eyebrows at him and smiled a tiny, impish smile, "So… what did you have in mind?"

"I know an old code from the Third War that's defunct now. To my knowledge, Kiri never did manage to decipher it."

Sakura made a face. "Well, I do _eventually_ want a response from him."

"I think you want to 'win' in this particular regard," Kakashi replied. "You're young and he might never respect you if you don't retaliate in a way that goes over his head."

She hummed about this and then approached the table, her hands behind her back and her footsteps light and bouncing; the picture of innocence as she rolled her eyes upwards. "_So_… I don't suppose you'd be interested in giving me a lesson on it now?"

"You don't suppose correctly." He gave this wording a moment of thought and then added, "Means no."

"Hatake Kakashi!" Sakura scolded as she stomped a foot and pouted.

He smiled serenely back at her. "Later," he said. "Tonight if you'd—"

"Yes!"

There. And it was perfectly innocent. A good way for them to get back to normal; taking on roles they were familiar with.

Sakura sighed as she looked back at the wall clock over the fridge. "I should go," she murmured. "I have paperwork to run for Tsunade-sama and a round to make at the hospital. I'll be home by seven-ish."

"See you tonight."

She nodded and tossed him what remained of the apple before heading to the door, her hand brushing against his shoulder as she passed him.

Totally innocent, he told himself and when the door shut he pulled his mask down to take a bite of the apple.

* * *

"Well, you look like hell."

A part of Sakura really, _really_ wished that she wasn't _so_ accustomed to the sight of men bleeding all over her laundry room floor that she could greet them with such flippancy. This couldn't even be filed under "shit ninja just get used to". Home usually meant an _escape_ from such delightful sights.

Genma's lips twisted into a sardonic little grin around his senbon. "Help me out with this, Pinkie."

She rolled her eyes and glanced at the clock. "I have to be back at the hospital in twenty minutes," she said. "You should come with me."

"It's not that bad."

She knelt down in front of where he sat on the laundry room floor. "You're a damn liar," she chided. She pulled the senbon from his mouth, frowning at the bleeding cut that bisected his lower lip, and then slipped his bandanna off, reaching up to lay them both atop the counter above him. "We really should quit meeting like this."

He laughed out loud at this and leaned his head back against the cupboard, which was streaked with blood where he had obviously slid down it to the floor. Automatically she hopped to her feet to crouch beside him, slipping an arm around his waist and encouraging him to wrap one around her shoulders.

"In my defense," he grunted as she helped him to his feet. "This isn't nearly as bad as it was last time."

"I'll wait until I find out where that blood is coming from before I agree," she replied, letting him slump onto the cot and then unzipping his flak jacket. "Where were you?"

"Solo mission," he said. "Water."

Sakura hummed. "Good to know their criminal population is staying sharp. Where are you hurt—" She stopped short and scowled when she did manage to remove his vest and found the back peppered with shrapnel and punctured in at least two areas. "I'm not sure if you know this, Genma, but it's generally advisable to avoid sharp objects aimed at your person."

He snorted. "I'll make sure to file that away for later. How was your mission?"

"How'd you know I had been on a mission?"

"Your pack is still in the hall," he said, his words muffled as she worked his shirt over his head.

A set of bandages were wrapped snugly around his chest and immediately she began to unbind them. They were a little bloodied from the lacerations and shallow punctures in his back, but otherwise fairly clean. She frowned and reached out to rake her fingers through his hair, tipping his head forward, the bandages momentarily forgotten. There was not enough blood from the shallow wounds under his flak jacket to have left that streak on the cabinet. "It went pretty well."

"Yeah? Where were you?"

Ah. Something had laid open his scalp, leaving an impressive laceration behind. "Uh, Amae? That little island south of Fire?"

Genma made a noise somewhere between a laugh and profanity as she finally managed to loosen the bandages. "Well, that just ain't _fair_," he grumbled. "You know where I've been the last two months? Wind, Rain, and Water. They try to scorch and then drown me and you get to take a cozy resort gig."

"Aww, poor you," she cooed with patronizing sweetness. "Are you angling for extra long leave?"

"It's the least you could do, I think."

She smiled and moved to one of the cabinets, removing a syringe and a vial of medication. "Hit your head?"

"Yeah."

"Dizziness, nausea, confusion?"

"Nope."

She nodded. Then he wasn't concussed and if he had been, it wasn't severe. "You fractured your ribs too? How are you breathing?"

"Fine. What's that?" He nodded to the syringe in her hand as she swabbed his arm.

"For the pain," she replied. "I'm confused. You must have checked in with an outpost to get those ribs wrapped. Why didn't they look at that blow you took to the head?"

Genma shook his head as he eased himself onto his back, hugging his bruised side tightly. "All this shit happened after the outpost. I wrapped them myself."

Sakura couldn't help but indulge in a very self-satisfied smile at this. "My lecturing on first aid and emergency care sounds like it's finally taken with someone," she said, pressing the needle into his skin and then pressing the plunger down with her thumb. "C'mon, tell me that you appreciated being able to breathe fully while on your way home."

"Yeah, I guess." He spared her a grin and then laid back into the cot, resting tentatively on his uninjured side as to not aggravate his ribs, the marks on his back, or the large wound carved into his scalp. "So," he began with a glance her way. "You seem a bit down."

She frowned at him as she rubbed absently at the tiny puncture left behind by the needle. "How can you tell?"

He shrugged a shoulder. "Been there, done that," he replied, cringing as she pushed her chakra into him, one hand resting on his chest and the other against his waist. "What's eating you?"

Sakura smiled at him. There were a lot of rumors that floated around Konoha about the Jonin before her, ones she had never been inclined to buy into. Sure, she didn't know him very well as they didn't move in the same circles, but Genma seemed to be the sort of man one could take at face value and his interactions with her and the other girls had very much the attitude of an older brother. To her knowledge, the worst he was guilty of was being handsome and exceptionally laidback. Where the rumors came from, she'd never know.

"They stopped making my favorite brand of shampoo a while ago. I'm still a little upset."

He rolled his eyes at her. "Hah," he grunted. "C'mon, what's really wrong? I don't like a depressed medic; it just doesn't bode well."

Sakura stared at her work, her lips pressed into a firm line. Where did she even really begin with that question? She shifted her gaze to meet his and then looked away again as she began to shake her head. "I'm falling in love with Kakashi—you might know him, tall guy, gray hair, mask—and I'm not quite sure how to handle that. Advice?"

He eyed her for a moment and then grunted and closed his eyes. "If you don't want to talk about it, fine."

She smiled to herself but it was rather bitter and flat and probably a good thing that Genma couldn't see it. "I promise I'm okay, Genma. Cross my heart."

* * *

Sakura had few distinctions in life—many of them being ones she could do without. So she cherished the small distinction of being able to grab the future-Hokage-Kyuubi-vessel in a headlock and hold him there, where the sound of his laughter resonated through her ribs. In between gasps for air and rough guffaws he apologized profusely and non-too-sincerely for barging into her bedroom without knocking, but she should totally lock it if she's going to strip to her socks and only her socks and, by the way, she had very nice "_socks"_.

Needless to say, this didn't exactly purchase his freedom. The boy laughed even harder when she squeezed harder, the sound coming out as wheezy snorting, which made her laugh in turn. Then without warning, he hooked an arm between her legs from the front, grabbed her by the back of her left thigh (he better damn well _hope_ it stayed on the correct side of that very precarious line between "back of her thigh" and her very nice "socks"), and lifted her into the air. Sakura let out an indignant squawk and squeezed even more as she gave him a dirty look.

"Put me down," she ordered calmly.

Naruto was grinning with all of his teeth at once, his face red and still totally unapologetic. "Let go and I'll put you down."

She was smiling back at him despite herself. He and Sai had stopped by to ask her to dinner and had only stayed to keep her company until Kakashi came around and things got _boring_. Well, to keep her company _and_ because after she had dressed in record time, she had come flying out of her bedroom with the hope of popping Naruto's fluffy, blond head right off his shoulders and she hadn't let go since.

It was nice seeing them, though. Her shift at the hospital had been exhausting and dull, Genma had been gone when she got back home, and she was just generally feeling a bit off so they were more than a welcomed sight. Then again, throwing Naruto around had _always_ had a rather cathartic effect.

"Put me down and I'll let go," she replied.

"I'll drop you."

"I'll take you down with me."

"How long have they been at this?"

Both of them turned to look, like guilty teenagers, over to their team leader, who was standing in Sakura's kitchen doorway. Sai was seated nearby at the table, sketching quietly. "About an hour," the pale boy said.

"I can see you're busy, Sakura-chan. I'll come back some other time," Kakashi replied with an eye crinkle.

Making an executive decision, Sakura reached up and clasped her other hand around Naruto's neck. Having been in a headlock and deprived of a full and proper breath for the last few minutes, it only took a few moments of heavy pressure on his carotid to knock him out like a light. As soon as his grip on her faltered and her feet touched the ground, she maneuvered him so that he could collapse safely on the couch. Then in three bounding strides she had both hands hooked in the sleeve openings of Kakashi's vest, stopping him in his tracks.

"You make one more step to that door and you're next, _sensei_."

He chuckled as he turned to face her, squinting his eye happily. "Now, there's no need for that."

Sakura smiled, but it faltered a little when she realized that Sai was watching them. She released Kakashi's vest as casually as possible and then folded her arms, partially because she was suddenly very uncomfortable under Sai's scrutiny and partially because her heart was attempting to make a break for it at the sight of Kakashi's familiar and easy smile.

Was she _giddy_? About having him in her house for totally innocent and completely professional reasons? For the love of the First, girl! Get a grip!

_On Kakashi_, a treacherous little voice added. _That was nice._

"What the hell happened?"

Sakura dropped her head forward to rest her chin on her chest, ostensibly to hide the smile curling over her lips but mostly to hide her rising blush and to respectfully thank the gods for Naruto's timing.

"You lost," Sai replied casually, his eyes wandering away from the pair to the dazed blond who was sitting up from the couch cushions. "Are we still going to eat?"

"Uh, yeah," the blond said, still totally lost but very cheerful when he looked up and saw Kakashi. He offered a happy grin. "Hey, sensei! When did you get here?"

"Mah, not too long ago," Kakashi replied with a soft chuckle.

Sai jerked his head to the door, sketchpad closed and held to his chest. "Dickless, I'm sure the others are waiting for us."

"I'm coming, you jerk! Well, you guys have fun and try not to bore yourselves to death!" Naruto vaulted easily over the couch and made for the door. "Later, Kakashi-sensei! Later, Sakura!"

Needless to say, Sakura was thoroughly confused. Sure, Sai had a pretty firm grasp on manners now, but it just seemed out of place for him to mention people waiting for them. Especially people that Sakura wasn't so sure existed. They had been training before coming to see her. Who exactly were they meeting?

The fact that Naruto hadn't reacted to this was of no consequence. It wasn't hard to slip things by him, especially things that were sandwiched between the prospect of dinner and an insult.

Thankfully, Kakashi broke what was getting to be a very awkward silence by removing two scrolls from the pockets of his vest. "These are—"

He didn't get to finish before she took them away from him, holding one under her arm as she unraveled the other and began to eagerly read on her way to the couch, her steps slowing a little as her concentration zeroed in on the words written. Vaguely, she heard Kakashi laugh and felt his hands on her shoulders and guiding her to the couch.

* * *

Kakashi was there all night.

Not that he had intended to be. He had _intended_ to just drop off the scrolls, give her a basic explanation of the code's structure just to get her started, and then leave her to her reading because her words earlier had put ideas in his head. Did _she_ want space away from him? It was entirely possible that she hadn't been keeping her distance for _his_ benefit; having lied just to cover her tracks or because she was embarrassed or something.

He deduced after a few hours that the above was probably not the case. Mostly because they were having fun again. They were laughing, joking, teasing each other again with all of the easiness that had come so naturally to them before. They sat close together all night, having a conversation that reminded him why he liked teaching her things now, why he liked talking to her, spending time with her.

In a lot of ways, it felt as it always had. In a lot of others it felt closer, more intimate, more like something neither of them would admit to.

"You don't have to try to get it all tonight, Sakura."

"I know, but…" She trailed off with a smile and a shrug to excuse herself.

He didn't argue. Couldn't.

It had stopped being about that letter hours ago. This was just them again, doing something together, and even though he typically would find this sort of thing remarkably dull he didn't right then. He told himself that it would serve them well in the future. They went on so many missions together as partners that if he could get her fluent in a code that wasn't likely to be deciphered, that was so much for the better. However, his eagerness had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the look in her eyes. Sakura wanted it so much and he was at a loss to deny her.

Kakashi found himself coming to—when had he fallen asleep?—at three-ish. Or so said the clock on Sakura's wall.

Sakura's wall.

He wondered for just half of a second if he had dozed off while she was reading and she had decided not to disturb him and had just gone to bed—nope. He found that she was curled up and asleep on the couch next to him, the scroll still opened in her lap, her feet buried under his right leg, and her back pressed to the armrest.

He also found that it was very, very nice and was pretty content with the idea of remaining there. He didn't even mind that she had apparently decided to use him as a foot-warmer.

Gods. Get a grip, man.

No, not—what did he think he was doing?

Kakashi would have smacked himself if it hadn't meant dropping Sakura, who he had lifted easily from the couch to take to her room, the scroll forgotten on the coffee table.

Hm, there was something else to add to that ever growing list of things he found attractive about her: she was light. It had nothing to do with her figure (although he appreciated that too and now understood what it meant to be digging oneself deeper), but rather just that she was petite and that was really very endearing when it shouldn't have been because what the hell did that even mean? At what point was he going to just admit that he was really beginning to find everything about her attractive because he was falling for her in the hardest way.

"Very Icha Icha," Sakura commented dryly and sleepily. "Carrying the girl to bed."

Kakashi grinned a little. All right, it was less dubiously romantic now that she was awake to comment on situation and he felt much more comfortable with that. "Paradise?"

"I was thinking Tactics. Unless you plan to ravish me when we get to the bed and then, yeah, Paradise."

That didn't sound like such a bad idea.

Kakashi wanted to hit himself again.

Sakura had gone quiet too, but that was probably more out of mortification of saying the words "ravish" and "when we get to the bed" to him in the same sentence.

And still that sounded like a really good idea.

He wondered, as he lowered her gently to the mattress, if that wasn't what they needed. A small part of him held onto the hope that this was _lust_. Maybe they just needed to do something drastic—make a mistake—to see that they were being ridiculous, that this was ridiculous, that…

She shook her hair out of her eyes and offered him a sleepy, charming smile. "Thank you, Kakashi."

No. No, this was very real. He sighed inwardly. This was very real and _very_ much not lust. Lust wouldn't have a hand in letting that smile pierce him to the marrow, lust wouldn't have _kept_ him from bending down and kissing her right then because he knew deep down that this wasn't the right time, and the only thing ridiculous about it all was that he was in his thirties and she gave him butterflies.

She opened her mouth as if to say something more, but then hesitated and maybe it was a trick of the half-light pouring into her window via the street lamps outside, but her cheeks looked vaguely pink. "Good night, Kakashi," she said finally.

He ignored the fact that she had obviously wanted to say something else, ignored how badly he wanted to ask what, and instead he replied, "Good night, Sakura."

Kakashi, as he stepped out onto the porch and shrugged on his vest, reflected that he was in a lot of trouble. A step back, he had said. She had agreed. A step back meant giving themselves room to reassess things. It was important that they get this under control that they figure it out, and the only way they could rationally do that was at a more platonic distance than they had been keeping.

But there wasn't taking a step back, it seemed.

Because he was in love. There was no reassessing that... there was no need to.

* * *

Sakura sighed, staring up at the ceiling. She praised the part of her that dictated logic and reason and was generally in charge of not letting her do anything _stupid_ because it had really saved her there. Not that she necessarily felt better with Kakashi gone. Sure, she could breathe a little easier, think a little clearer, but it was at the expense of a vague sort of emptiness that had settled in her chest.

And it wasn't that _not _saying it lessened her desire _to_ say it, no matter how stupid or damning it would be.

So, as she stared up at the ceiling, Sakura let out a quiet sigh and then whispered to herself, to the room, to Kakashi ten minutes ago in a different and parallel reality where she was braver and not so afraid of his rejection: "Stay. Please stay with me."

* * *

1. ARGH! ... I'm sorry. This is my second time writing these notes because I'm an idiot and I closed this window by accident and I lost all the notes I had written and I didn't save because I'm an idiot and ARGH!... But anyhoodle I love you guys.

2. I love you so much I want to bother you constantly. Well, no. But I do cordially invite you to join the DA community for House Calls set up by the lovely nmmi-nut. There's a link in my profile. By joining House Calls you get to see me abuse the group-comment feature by using it as a Twitter and witness the general insanity that ensues when you give me any kind of box onto which I may stand. Oh and there's fanart. Lots and lots of lovely fanart. Speaking of which, thanks to umhermione (aka Drielme), kamikazesusan, kimeko-28, BossLadyRiver, and KikuFire (aka SunFireNeko) for the new pieces! They're beautiful and I love you so much for them! But yeah, come join us at the community. We have chocolate, Mardi Gras beads, and male strippers!

3. NOW onto chapter related things (grumble grumble this note was really long before and beautifully worded and damn it): Ah Shika! How I do love to torture you. The letter they're talking about is a response to the letter Tsunade advised Sakura write to the Mizukage back in Chapter 22 in regards to Ao's transplanted Byakugan (Ao: Mist, hunter-nin and one of Mei's bodyguards, specifically the one who always gets smacked around because, I assume, she's half-deaf). They refer to "Kiri-kotoba" a couple of times and according to my five minutes on Google "kotoba" means "dialect" or some equivalent thereof. Kiri-kotoba, then, is an old dialect once spoken in Mist. In theory, all of the countries/villages would have their own dialect. Shika references a "common", which is in reference to the language they all speak (I'll say it for you: thank you, Captain Obvious). I don't know, it's just always annoyed me that there's no language barrier between any of the villages. I mean yeah, okay, I know WHY there isn't one (it'd be a pain in the ass to write around), but it just bugs me. So here's my attempt to explain that. Also, the gratuitous use of the Japanese word "kotoba" is just there because I thought it sounded catchier than "dialect". Artistic license, I suppose.

4. As for Ao (pause while I hit save), yes I think he'd be difficult to deal with or at the very least he'd endeavor to MAKE things difficult (and succeed as things have it). For the most part I think he'd take issue with the fact that Sakura is a lot younger and he'd perceive her as being cheeky or arrogant for asking for what could probably be considered sensitive information (he's very protective of his Byakugan after all and being the hard-boiled veteran he is, he wouldn't trust anyone). Also, back in Chapter 22 I mention him and Sakura as having had a few "words" and not liking each other very much. I think in her mind ANYONE could take a body apart (even a pack of wild dogs can do that), "so get off your high horse about the Hunter-nin thing, old man. It takes true skill to put them back together." Ao's reason would probably be something more like: "Hm, right, medic. Are you even supposed to be on the battlefield? Also, you're half my age so shut up." (Obviously it'd be much more eloquent and badass coming from him.)

5. (In which I hit save again) I'll willingly admit that Genma is here for no other reason but filler. But c'mon, who doesn't love delicious Genma-filling? (FREUDIAN!) Refer back to Chapter 2 for the first instance of Sakura telling an outrageous sounding truth with the intention of someone not believing it.

6. I really do love writing Naruto and Sakura as fooling around and generally being idiots together. Also perceptive!Sai is being perceptive. I'm not sure if he'd know exactly what's going on between Sakura and Kakashi, he'd just know that they've been being weird lately and want them to fix it (I don't think he'd take negative shifts in his social circle very well).

7. TEEHEE! I really don't do this to torture you (no matter what my psych evaluation might say about sadistic tendencies). This is all in the course of that idea of a realistic build. Besides, that little visit from the denial fairy? Didn't even fair well through one chapter. Kakashi and Sakura are just no good at this whole intentionally trying to be apart thing. A friend pointed out that sometimes the more distance you put between yourself and someone you love, the closer you end up pulling them. You may all hope that they pull each other a whole LOT closer very soon.

**(All right, everyone who is currently awake at some ungodly hour finishing this chapter: Go to bed! ... I mean, review first, but after you do so please go to bed if you haven't in the last 18 hours XD)**


	29. In Which There is Faffing About

**House Calls**

**Chapter 29**

**Note:** I'm BACK! You all thought you were rid of me, eh? Well, you're not! See you at the bottom!

* * *

To say that Sakura was confused after Kakashi left would have been something of an understatement. She spent the night, staring at the ceiling and sleeping intermittently until the first rays of the morning began to creep across the carpeted floor.

She had wanted him to stay. This single thought played on repeat through her mind, forcing her to examine it again and again. It was not a sentiment born from being caught up in a swell of emotion from any recent trauma that might make the prospect of being alone unbearable. She couldn't blame it on loneliness and one glance at the calendar ruled out hormones. In fact, there was no convenient excuse for it at all.

Very simply, she had just wanted him to stay.

Giving up on any hope for sleep, she sat up and perched herself at the foot of her bed in her underwear (it was still too damn hot for much clothing), her hair a ratty bird's nest around her shoulders.

Sakura hadn't known what to think after that night in the hotel room or after their talk on the boat or even after their return to Konoha. She had no doubt that _something_ would have happened in the hotel if not for Eiji. It had felt good—_right_—to be touched that way by Kakashi, even when everything told her that that was wrong. In fact, she had _never_ felt anything as intense as the surge of emotion and firehe inspired in her—and she hadn't even kissed the man!

Kakashi had felt something from it too. He had all-but said it with how he had pulled her close, how he had held her with a sort of passion she felt down in her bones.

Then, to her relief and her never-ending amazement at how very well they had come to understand each other, he spoke of the very same confusion and fear she felt the very next morning. He hadn't rejected her, not by a long shot, because he didn't want to lose her either.

_"You're the best thing in my life."_

Those words had meant more to her than he would ever know, because it allayed, in one fell swoop, the fear that he meant the world to her while she was nothing more than a teammate to him. It was the clearest insight into Hatake Kakashi's feelings that he had ever given her and the crazy giddiness that filled her with was something she had never before felt.

Ever, she thought as she stared at the floor.

"Oi! Sakura, you awake?"

The voice jarred Sakura free of her thoughts. She looked to the clock and frowned to see that it was already nearing eight. "I'll be out in a minute," she called back.

"Akamaru, stay outside or you'll get mud all over. Hey, don't give me that look."

Sakura stood from the bed and grabbed her robe from the floor, tying the sash as she moved to the door. On any other morning it would have maybe been a little too early to deal with Kiba, but on this particular day, she wasn't going to complain. The distraction would be welcomed. It was _really_ too early to be pondering such things.

A sharp whistle welcomed her as she stepped out of her room and Sakura scowled at Kiba, who was grinning broadly at her as his eyes dragged over her. "Lovin' the sexy, unkempt look," he said. "I should come over this early more often."

"Oh joy," she deadpanned before frowning at his grass-stained and mud-splotched clothes. "Just back from a mission?"

Kiba scratched at his ear as he turned his eyes toward the ceiling. "Actually, I'm just leaving… but I never got a check-in physical the _last_ time I got back."

Sakura scowled. "Which totally makes the point of a check-in exam moot."

He grinned at her in that cocky sort of way that only Kiba could make endearing and began to drag the zipper of his jacket down in a vaguely obscene way. "So… here or somewhere more private?"

Sakura rolled her eyes even as she smiled. Kiba himself had long ago accepted that his lady-killing antics would never work on her, but he seemed resolved to make her laugh by keeping the act up anyway. "Strip in the general direction of the laundry room. I'll be there in a second."

He nodded and she turned back into her bedroom, in search of her sweats and a hair tie.

* * *

"You know, I'm not one to advocate work over play, but I'm glad you set this up. I wasn't crazy about all the mandatory man-handling when I had to go to the hospital for it, but when it's someone like you?" Kiba was sprawled out on the cot, his jacket and shoes discarded near the doorway, and unabashedly leering at her legs, left bared by the pair of polka-dotted pajama shorts she wore. "I can make peace with that."

"That's very big of you," Sakura replied blandly as she made a few notes on a fresh report form.

He laughed and lifted both arms to fold them behind his head. "So, what's up in the world of Haruno?"

She smiled a little sand shook her head. "Not too much."

"Pft, _boring_."

"Well, I'm not the sort of girl who swills booze, has wild animal sex, and then _tells_," she said, aghast. "_So_ sorry."

Kiba laughed heartily at this as she sank back onto her wheeled stool and slid over to him. "Killjoy," he replied. "Don't you do _anything_ exciting?"

Sakura laughed and pressed two chakra-shrouded hands into his chest to check his internals. "I'm learning a new code."

He snorted. "Wow, you really know how to turn a guy on. Well, maybe Shikamaru…"

She grinned at him and slid over to scribble a few more notes before pushing off against that cupboard and sailing across the room to another. "I assume you're leaving Fire Country for this mission?"

"Yep. Heading over to Grass to protect some feudal lord's kid or something; I don't really know."

"I'm sure Tsunade-sama would be thrilled to know that you read your mission scrolls so thoroughly," Sakura snorted as she snapped on a pair of disposable gloves and then withdrew two syringes from one drawer and then two vials from another. "So, I have good news and bad news. Bad news: you seem to be just fine so I don't get to lecture you on how easy it is to overlook a life-threatening injury. Good news: you're behind on your vaccinations."

Kiba snorted as he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the cot. "I'm pretty sure that qualifies as sadism." He tipped his a little to the side and then frowned. "You got a visitor."

Sakura opened her mouth to ask, but was cut off by a voice from the living room: "Nee-san?"

The medic smiled and Kiba shot her a haughty look as she slid her chair back over to him, laying the syringes and vials on a wheeled tray to her right. "I'm in here!" she called back, tearing open an alcohol wipe and reaching up to swab a patch on each of Kiba's arms. "I hope Akamaru's up on his vaccines?"

"Hana takes care of that," Kiba replied. "I'd of gotten them before, but my mission load's been heavy. You know how it is; being this awesome gets pretty hectic."

Sakura rolled her eyes. No wonder he and Naruto got along so well. "Yes, well no one is too awesome for the flu. Besides, Kurenai would have yours and Akamaru's hides if you two brought a bug back with you and got Asuka sick."

Kiba opened his mouth to say something, but stopped short as he turned his head toward the doorway. Then he broke into raucous, crowing laughter. "What the fuck happened to you, little man?"

Sakura turned and raised an eyebrow at the sight of a black-eyed Konohamaru with a bloody lip and nose leaning in the doorway from the kitchen. A wave of nostalgia hit her at the sight of the pouting, kicked puppy look on his face that made him look much more like the Genin she had known so many years before and a tiny part of her smiled at this. "What did you say to Moegi this time?" she wondered.

"I don't know!" the boy shouted back. "Girls are impossible!"

"Speaking from experience, they don't like hearing _that_ either," Kiba replied as the boy stomped over and threw himself down onto the cot beside the Inuzuka.

Sakura agreed silently as she reached over to tip Konohamaru's face towards her. She sighed and planted two hands on Kiba's knees, pushing off of him and sailing back over to the storage cupboards. "It's probably best to listen to Kiba in this case," she said, frowning a little as she opened one drawer and came up empty. "When it comes to what not to say to girls, he's done it all."

"Oh, that was uncalled for," the Inuzuka protested as the other boy laughed.

She waved a dismissive hand at him and got up from her chair with a sigh. She returned a few moments later with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a dish towel, which she gently pressed to Konohamaru's gradually swelling black eye. "Now hold it there," she instructed, pressing his hand to the makeshift icepack. "I have to finish up with Kiba, but that'll keep the swelling under control in the mean time."

"So what did you say?" Kiba asked as Sakura took again to her stool and began to unwrap one of the syringes and fill it with the contents of one vial.

Konohamaru sighed as he tipped his head into the compress. "I don't really remember. I kind of blacked out after she landed the first hit. Sakura-nee, can't you talk to her? She's been really crabby lately."

"How's she smell?" Kiba wondered idly.

Sakura scowled. "Don't be gross, Kiba."

"I'm not!" he protested. "Besides, you're a medic and a woman; what's gross about it to you?"

"Nothing, it's just gross that you can smell it."

"Tch, not like I enjoy it."

Konohamaru sniffed a little and wiped gingerly at his bloody nose. "It's not that anyway; that just makes her cry a lot."

"Lucky you," the Inuzuka replied, looking thoughtful. "Even Hinata got kind of mean when she was on the—fuck me! Sakura, c'mon!"

Sakura scowled at him pointedly as she withdrew the needle a moment later and reached for the second. "Konohamaru, you and Moegi are on a team together and since that's not going to change any time soon _you're_ going to have to be the one to talk to her," she said. "Apologize for upsetting her and then ask her if there's something bothering her."

He made a face. "What if she hits me again?"

She laughed. "Then I'll have to let Ebisu-senpai know that you're getting slow."

Konohamaru pouted. "That's not funny. Besides, I think it's your fault. You beat up Naruto-nii all the time when we were younger. Moegi took it from you."

"Yeah and are you still taking tips from Naruto?" Sakura asked. "Because that might get you to the bottom of your little mystery."

The boy huffed quietly and Kiba spared him a quick glance before looking back to watch Sakura as she readied the second injection. "Can't go wrong with an apology," he said, both eyes now firmly trained on the medic. "Even if you're right and she's wrong. An apology will just get it over with."

Konohamaru raised a skeptical eyebrow.

The Inuzuka glanced at him and then looked back to Sakura. "Don't worry. That bit comes from growing up with an older sister and a mom. But it works on all women."

Sakura chuckled and shook her head. "I'm trying to picture the seven shades of purple your mother would turn you if she heard that. Besides, you're simplifying it too much. Women can't all be placated by just an apology."

Kiba sighed and nodded. "You know what, Sakura? You're right and I'm sorry. It wasn't fair of me to generalize like that."

She smiled. "That's very big of you."

He smiled and then turned to give Konohamaru a knowing look, which lasted all of a second before Sakura jabbed him with the second needle and he had to bite back a yelp. He looked to Sakura, his teeth bared in a snarl, but she simply smiled back and then turned to Konohamaru. "Ask her what's wrong or you'll be right back here the next time you make the same mistake." She withdrew the needle a moment later and capped it. "Done."

"Sadist," Kiba grumbled as he rolled his sleeves back down and pushed off the cot, giving Konohamaru room to sprawl out across the bedding.

Sakura laughed and made her way over to the cupboards to throw away her gloves, the vials, and the needles and then make a few notes on the report. "I'll make sure your vaccination record is updated." She glanced back at him as he stepped back into his boots and shrugged back into his jacket. "And I expect to see you back here when your mission is completed."

Kiba grinned at her as he sauntered over. "Can't wait to get me shirtless again, huh?"

Konohamaru laughed as Sakura rolled her eyes and reached for a drawer on her right, from which she removed another alcohol wipe and a fresh pair of latex gloves. "Be safe," she said as she turned to face Kiba. "You won't be so funny anymore if your intestines are getting everywhere."

He grinned and sidled a little closer, slipping an arm around her waist. "How about a kiss for luck, then?"

Sakura let out a short laugh and planted a hand against his face as he attempted to pull her closer. "Get out of my clinic."

Kiba barked his amusement and then nipped at the palm of her hand with his fangs, causing her to jerk the offended limb back long enough for him to swoop in and peck her on the lips. Sakura immediately took a swing at him, but missed when he dropped under the blow and then lunged for the door with a whoop and a shout of, "Later, babe!"

"_Unbelievable_," she huffed. She looked back to Konohamaru, who was grinning lopsidedly in amusement, and began to pull on her gloves. "I'm sorry about that. Kiba always ends up being more work than one man has the right to be."

"Heh, s'all right," Konohamaru said, sitting up with Sakura's assistance. He cringed as she pulled the ice pack away from his face and laid it on the bed beside him.

Sakura took a moment to assess the damage and then took a seat on her stool again before tearing open the alcohol swab. "I'll have to clean this mess up first before I start the healing so just hold still," she said. "Moegi really did a number on you."

"It's not too bad," he replied with the same sort of false bravado she heard from all of her patients. He glanced at the doorway and then grinned. "Kiba-senpai seems to really like you a lot."

She glanced at the door too and shook her head. She knew an attempt to change the subject when she saw one—Kakashi was as much of a genius at that as anything else. "Kiba really likes all women a lot," she said with a smile playing across her lips as she began to tend to his bleeding nose. "He's a good guy, though. Just a pest."

Konohamaru snorted. "Moegi would've trampled right over you to take him up on that kiss."

Sakura smiled a little as she contemplated the maybe-possibly-kind of-fractured state of his nasal bone. "Kiba has that effect on girls."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Just not you?"

"Hey, I pulled that punch."

He laughed at that, which ended abruptly in a groan as she pressed on either side of his nose, feeling the bone. "Is it broke?" he asked.

"Yep, but it's just a small fracture," she replied. She shook her head as she wiped the blood away from his lip next and began to check his teeth and jaw. "So, why didn't you go to Udon?"

Konohamaru shrugged. "He's working at the hospital. You were closer." His voice dropped a little as he averted his eyes and added, almost under his breath, "Besides, it's not like he's a real medic yet."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at this. "This little tiff between you and Moegi; it's about Udon?"

The boy refused to look at her for some time and then when he did, it was to give her the same kicked puppy look he had been wearing at the door. It was especially effective, she noted, with that swollen bottom lip. "No, but she won't shut up about him," he said finally, "and she bangs on about how handsome Naruto-nii is and how great you are and how much she wants to become a Jounin and she's always training with _Hanabi_ now!"

She rolled her eyes. Ah yes, she had nearly forgotten all about that adorable little rivalry and all of the nostalgia attached to it. "And you said something about this."

"Well, yeah."

"In a way that got your nose broken."

"… Yeah."

She nodded as she finished dabbing at his split lip and then peeled her gloves off. "Ebisu-senpai focuses most of his attention on you, doesn't he?"

He frowned a little. "I guess."

"Right and Udon's found his calling at the hospital. So, Moegi is kind of just adrift at the moment, isn't she?" Sakura asked as she lifted her hands to cup his face and then summoned her chakra to her palms.

Konohamaru heaved a sigh. "_Yeah_."

"Then quit being a jerk. She's just trying to find her place."

"I know! But it'd be nice if she and Udon would at least train with me every once in a while."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "They're not mind-readers, you idiot. Ask them. If you're worried about sounding like a girl, tell them it's so you guys don't lose your ability to sync as a team or something. They'll see straight through it, but they probably won't say anything."

The boy opted to not reply and settled for pouting quietly into space as the swelling gradually lessened in his cheek and the split in his lip began to seal

* * *

Konohamaru waited (read: Konohamaru picked out one of Sakura's many anatomy books with which to amuse himself) while Sakura showered and dressed, intending to walk with her when she headed out for the morning.

She didn't mind. He was a bit like the little brother she had never had (or wanted) and it was rather adorable when he tried to be the man by escorting her even though she was both older than him and perfectly capable of bending men thrice his size into pretzels. But it was the thought that counted and the thought was sweet.

They parted at the road to Sai's apartment complex, Konohamaru begrudgingly admitting that he needed to talk to Moegi before meeting Ebisu. She waved him off and then turned down the street.

Any other day, she might have gone the way of the flower shop, stopped off to talk to Ino before dropping by the hospital to do a few rounds, and then finally making her way to Kakashi's. But after the night before? She didn't want it to be a repeat of the previous morning. Maybe it was time for a little of that space they had talked about.

Yes, that sounded good. A little space. A little breathing room, like they had agreed.

Sakura was jarred from her musings suddenly by the distinct of solvents and paint as she reached the top step of the third floor of Sai's building and cautiously began down the hallway toward his door.

Sai's apartment typically had the appearance of cleanliness because of how very little was in it. However, when the whim struck him, Sai could be such a slob as to rival Naruto and apparently the whim had struck him. By the look of things, it was yet to leave.

"Sai?" she called hesitantly as she toed carefully around the canvases and papers drying on the floor. They were all painted on and while many of them were covered in what appeared to be the beginnings of beautiful portraits—some of them even in _color_—they had been slashed through with an angry stroke of a brush and ruined. The sheer number of them surprised her. "Sai?"

"What?"

She looked up sharply and raised an eyebrow. He was wearing sweats and a white tee-shirt, clothing so ridiculously civilian that it was almost surreal. She noted the paint splattered on his clothes and coating his hands and the towel he had thrown over one shoulder and then lifted her eyes to his again, raising an eyebrow. "Issues?"

He muttered something she didn't hear and turned back into his bedroom, which doubled as his studio.

Sakura wondered sometimes at the general state of his mental health. Artist's block was one thing, but this tendency to fixate on things was a little worrying. It could, she supposed, be all a part of the creative temperament, but one didn't have to be a ninja or a medic very long to see the signs of battle fatigue everywhere and in everyone. Ninja were well-known to be a quirky bunch of people and Sai was certainly allowed a few more oddities than most, but she worried anyway. It was hard to tell what all his training in ROOT had done to him, except for the obvious, and she had to wonder at moments like these.

"Doesn't your air conditioning work? It's like an oven in here," she said as she leaned against his bedroom doorjamb.

Sai shrugged as he sat down at a stool in front of a blank canvas propped on an easel. A small futon with just enough room for one person was shoved over in the corner and covered in a drop cloth and more half-done drawings. There were more pieces hung on the walls, but she knew that was just temporary to open up room on the floor. "I didn't notice."

Sakura heaved a sigh and approached him. "How long have you been awake?"

"I would say as long as you have." He eyed her speculatively. "Your eyes are dark. You didn't sleep?"

"No, but that just means we're a matching set," she replied blandly. "Look, Tsunade-sama has Naruto playing her gopher all day, but I told him that I'd meet him for lunch. Come with me."

Sai shook his head, taking the towel from his shoulder and wiping off a few brushes with it. "No, thank you."

Sakura rolled her eyes and approached. "I'm guessing this is one of those artist-y things I wouldn't understand, but I think you need to get out of here before you cook to death."

"I fail to see how exposing myself to the out-of-doors, where it is even hotter, would prevent that." He glanced at Sakura and narrowed his eyes again. "This is one of those things where you suggest something and make it sound as if I have a choice in the matter where in reality I do not, isn't it?"

She smiled and lifted a finger to tap the end of her nose. "Get dressed."

Sai frowned a little. "What in our relationship dictates your ability to order me around? I am both older and more experienced and, in a fight, I stand the better chance of winning having a wider variety of attacks at my disposal. Even at close range, I have a keen understanding of your abilities and if you were to threaten to beat me if I do not leave with you, I could very well escape with little trouble. Then I would only have to elude you until you gave up and deal with the repercussions of our bruised relationship later on."

Wonderful. He was feeling rebellious _and_ wordy; the sure Sai-exclusive symptoms of a bad mood.

Sakura sighed and, deciding to snuff this quickly, lifted a hand to cup the side of his face, holding him still as she pitched herself forward to meet his stare. "Well, I have a keen understanding of human nature and a better grasp on _being_ human so when it comes to social interactions I feel that that beats your battlefield experience by a mile. I also love you and I want you to be happy, so I think it behooves me to stop you from banging your head against the wall—it's a metaphor—and take you outside for a little while to distract you with hopes that a little time away will help." She paused and smiled. "Is that sufficient?"

Sai stared at her for a prolonged moment and then nodded, his cheek bobbing up and down against her palm. "Yes."

"Okay. Get dressed and I'll try to clean up a little bit."

* * *

"Sakura, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Do I ever?"

Sai lifted his eyes upwards thoughtfully. He and Sakura were walking side-by-side toward Ichiraku, the sun's punishing afternoon rays beating down on them. "Not in recent memory, however out of cautiousness I have come to think of your tolerance for it as a day-to-day sort of—"

"_Sai_."

The young man's lips quirked into a quick almost apologetic smile and he nodded to indicate her. "You are an attractive, healthy young woman."

While Sakura was far too accustomed to Sai's tendency to beat around the bush before asking a question to let it bother her on any other day, today it grated a little on her nerves. The streets of Konoha were acting like an enormous, outdoor sauna and she could feel her hair frizzing and she hadn't gotten enough sleep to be saintly and patient. "Thank you. And your point would be?"

"Why is it that you do not have a significant other?"

"What?" she asked, blinking. Oh it was way too hot for this. "Have you been talking to Ino?"

Sai shrugged. "No, but I am quite aware of her opinion on the matter. I am asking more out of personal curiosity."

The medic frowned and regarded him with an odd look. "You're not… falling for me or something, are you?"

As nice as it was to hear, Sakura felt it bruise her ego a little when Sai actually laughed at this. "No," he said with another mirthful little chuckle. "I am asking because you are one of my main sources for information; one of the people I learn the most from by watching. Between you and Naruto, I have concluded that you stand a far better chance of becoming involved in such a relationship and could better explain it to me. However, it is something of a problem that you are not involved with anyone at the moment and I was wondering why."

Sakura stared at him with open-mouthed incredulity. "Are you trying to intentionally annoy me as some kind of revenge for dragging you out of your apartment?"

Sai tipped his head to the side innocently. "No?"

"Ah." She eyed him for a moment longer and then nodded and looked ahead again. "To answer your question then, I'm busy."

"As are many ninja who are in romantic relationships."

"Sai, I swear to the First that if you're trying to convince me to go out with someone just for the sake of your own education, I won't hesitate to mysteriously lose the record for your last full physical."

He opened his mouth at this and then closed it again, his lips turning down slightly at the corners. "That is not what I meant," he huffed. "Also, that is cruel."

"That is the point."

Sai sniffed irritably at this. "It is surely not from a lack of interested parties."

Sakura laughed a little at this. "It isn't?" she asked, her exasperation finally giving away to both morbid curiosity and bewildered amusement. If nothing else, talking to Sai was always interesting.

"It really is not attractive when women play coy," he muttered. "Sakura, I do not say that you are attractive to stroke your ego or to earn a pat on the head. It is a conclusion I have arrived at based on both my own understanding of aesthetics and the general opinion expressed by other individuals of our general acquaintance."

She grinned. "I don't know if I trust that," she teased. "Not so long ago you were calling me 'Ugly' at every opportunity."

"I only did that to spite you."

"_Why_?"

He shrugged. "It amused me. Quit changing the subject."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sai, I don't date because I'm busy, because you, Naruto, and Kakashi come first, because I just…" She paused for a moment as she searched for the right way to explain herself. "I'm only nineteen, but most days I feel so much older that I _forget_ that I'm only nineteen. That isn't what a man will want. Believe me." She looked to him and smiled, trying to ease the slight frown that touched his lips. "That probably doesn't seem like a very good answer."

"It seems perfectly valid." He spared her a sideways looks. "However, I do not think it would stand in the way of your ability to maintain a successful relationship with someone older who may better understand and relate to your feelings."

The medic started at this, but before she could say anything—_ask_ anything—she was cut off by a shout from a familiar blond. "Sakura-chan! Sai!"

Which was, she thought as her eyes narrowed, extremely convenient for Sai. She kept an eye on him even as Naruto came up from behind and slung an arm around them both. Sai simply smiled back.

To the universe's shock, Naruto caught onto this. "What? What did I miss?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothing of consequence," Sai replied quickly. "How has your morning been?"

If Naruto was put off by the sincerity of the question, he didn't show it (promptly body-slamming the universe back into alignment). "Baa-chan is a total slave-driver," he said. "I think she's just screwing with me now. I mean, she couldn't possibly meet with the hotshot ninja clans in a month as much as I have in the last two weeks. No wonder you're so cranky when you get back from the office, Sakura-chan."

"And there goes any chance of me picking up the check," Sakura huffed as she pushed his arm away, deciding it was far too hot for such closeness anyway. "Who did you meet with today?"

"Shikamaru's family," Naruto replied and he pulled a face.

The medic raised an eyebrow. "You scared the deer again, didn't you?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"_Naruto_," Sakura sighed as she pressed a palm to her forehead. "I honestly think you need a coach or something. I mean, Tsunade gets by with the clans because she's older and they respect her as one of the Sannin. I don't think that'll work for you.

"Hey! I'm just as kick-ass as Baa-chan!" the blond argued.

Sai rolled his eyes. "What Sakura is too kind to say is that you can 'kick ass' from the position of a squad captain. The Hokage has to be someone who won't incite an international incident out of sheer and unchecked stupidity. For all of her faults, Tsunade-sama is, at the very least, a capable leader who maintains a good rapport with all of the prominent families."

Naruto scowled at Sai for this, but that vanished when he looked to Sakura. "A coach?"

"Just to teach you the finer points of diplomacy. I mean, you're not always going to be able to make friends by punching someone in the face," the medic replied, reaching out to affectionately pet his arm.

He made a face. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Etiquette, proper table manners, what is and isn't appropriate to talk about… don't give me that look. All of that is important. Tsunade-sama might spend half of her time wasted, but she more or less confines that to her office."

"Well, can't you do that?" he asked. "You've acted as a lia-whatever for Tsunade before, right? You know that stuff."

Sakura sighed. "As much as I'd love to, you know how busy I am."

"C'mon!" the blond whined. "You've even got an in with the Hyuugas since Hinata's been helping you with your research. The elders don't like me much yet and Tsunade says that their vote will be important."

"I don't know how you think I can help," she scoffed. "The elders aren't crazy about anything Hinata's been helping me with; clan secrets and all that." She paused briefly and then began to smile. "Actually, why don't you ask Hinata to help you out? I'm sure she'd love to."

This, Sakura could admit in retrospect, was probably two parts cruel and one part Ino and three parts totally beneath her. Hinata was probably just as busy as she was, if not more so, and she was not only potentially dumping Naruto on the poor girl, but it also seemed rather match-maker-ish to steer him in her direction. But if she _could_ help, it was in Naruto's best interests. As Ino had pointed out before, her boys were all more or less raised by wolves, but even worse than that Naruto had raised _himself_. In contrast, Hinata had been brought up as nobility and at the epicenter of truly harrowing diplomatic circumstances. She would be the best mentor for him at this point.

"You think?" Naruto scratched at the back of his neck. "I don't want to bother her."

"Well asking won't hurt," Sakura prodded. "Think about it, okay?"

* * *

"_Agh_, come back, Sai! It's too fucking hot to chase you!"

Sakura laughed as she dodged and danced around Naruto, who was furiously grabbing for her forehead protector, which she had tucked loosely into the waist of her shorts. Sai had used their momentary distraction to disappear, which was never a good thing for either of them. It was never wise to let the ex-ROOT agent out of one's line of sight.

"Truce?" she proposed as she landed in a crouch just a few feet away.

Naruto stood half bent over with his hands on his knees as sweat poured down his arms and whiskered cheeks. "Yeah," he panted. "Let's get the jackass first and then settle this. He'll beat us both if we let him."

Sakura nodded and was just about to follow Naruto into the treetops when the blond suddenly perked at the sight of something over her shoulder. "Yo, Shikamaru! Your dad's not mad at me about the thing with the deer, is he?"

"No, but you'll have to make it up to the herd."

Sakura spun around quickly and smiled happily at the Nara boy as he approached, his shoulders slouched, his vest conspicuously missing, his ponytail adorably frizzed because of the unbearable humidity, and his right hand clutching a manila folder. Her eyes lit up at the sight of the latter and, cementing her hope, Shikamaru lifted it up to show her. "Sakura, I got your—"

His words were abruptly halted by the rush of the air being ripped from his lungs via the force with which she launched herself into him. "They got it done in one day?" she gushed. "I love those guys!"

However, his surprise didn't last and quickly melted into the bored exasperation Shikamaru could always be relied upon to express. "For your information, it wasn't—_wait_. You're supposed to be at the academy teaching that class. That was the deal."

"I had Tsunade-sama assign someone else," she replied dismissively and grabbed for the folder, which he quickly jerked out of her reach. "Nara Shikamaru!"

He rolled his eyes and lifted his arm a little higher when she planted a hand on his shoulder to leverage herself upwards closer to her prize. "Look, you need to know this wasn't easy to get. It got pushed through because some of the guys in Intelligence are being sent to Sound next week and they want to be on your good side if they get brought back bloody."

Sakura made a face. "What are the odds that they'll keep that in mind if I give them another one?"

"You're expecting more of these?"

She shrugged. "Maybe for just a little while until my friend and I feel like we can be mature about things. So…?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't expect them to keep coming as fast, but I'm sure you'll always get a response." He made a face as he finally handed her the folder. "You're probably not going to like what it says."

"I had a feeling," Sakura muttered. "Is it a flat no? Will I be wasting my time if I read this?"

"Not exactly," he replied. "What were you hoping for?"

"Just some information." She smiled at him happily. "You're the best, Shika."

"Yeah, yeah."

Sakura watched him go and then turned her attention onto the folder, flipping it open and then scanning through the pages inside, among which were the original letter, two or three attempts at translation and decoding and then the final piece.

"Sakura-chan!"

Wha—oh, Naruto. Training. Exercise. Sai hovering over her right shoulder, tactically placing her between him and Naruto.

"Sakura-chan?"

She turned her head toward Sai's voice, her eyes glued to the page. "Hm?"

"May I have this?"

She felt a gentle tug on her forehead protector and she hummed back. "Yeah, sure. You and Naruto play nice."

"Will do."

He pecked her gently on the cheek and then lunged out of the way as Naruto charged him, her forehead protector going with him. Sakura easily sidestepped the blond as well and then turned to walk away.

"Sakura-chan! C'mon—_sonuvabitch_! Sai, you bastard! Get off!"

* * *

Sakura knocked simply to be obnoxious, because she was excited and revved up and between the two her thoughts were too incoherent a jumble to properly dispel the seals on the door herself. Or that's what she'd tell anyone to defend herself when Kakashi answered and she responded by greeting him with hug.

Of course, her mind took the time out necessary to process a coherent thought at this time: shirtless.

_Oh_, he was shirtless. It wasn't fair to spring that kind of thing on a girl.

"Everything okay?"

Sakura smiled at the careful way he had locked an arm around her waist while the other hovered uneasily mid-air. "Fine, great, perfect," she said. "Shikamaru got that letter translated."

"Already?"

Kakashi sounded impressed and Sakura took a step away. "I know, right?

He huffed. His mask was in place, as always, but his forehead protector was missing. "If they can do that in one night, why the hell can't they ever get the information right for our missions?"

Sakura laughed. "I don't know. I don't care."

He chuckled at her. "Do you want to come in and tell me about it?"

She stepped around him and into the apartment the same second he finished and made a beeline for the kitchen, laying the folder down on the table as she went. "So, he's basically demeaned me in every possible fashion—totally predictable—and derided my approach."

"Then why are you excited?" Kakashi wondered as he sat down at the table opened the file.

Sakura glanced back at him and then looked away quickly, trying to pretend that she didn't find his bared chest and shoulders exceptionally intriguing. It was a rule of thumb that most shinobi looked good without their shirts, but there was just something she found particularly enticing about him. Or maybe it was just because it was Kakashi and she was clearly losing her mind. Whatever. "Because he didn't say no. I know we're not best friends or anything, but I'm guessing that if Ao didn't plan on helping me, he wouldn't beat around the bush; he probably wouldn't have even responded. He's just trying to save face by being a pain in the ass."

He stared at her blankly for a moment, his cheek resting in one upturned palm. "And this is cause to be excited because…?"

Sakura spared him a smile over her shoulder before turning back to pull an apple from the bowl on the counter. "He gave me an idea. He basically spends the whole letter criticizing me for not giving him enough information, for expecting him to spoon feed me everything I need to know, but he got me thinking—something I'll be sure to gloat about in my response—and I think I know what I need to do now. You know, other than bash my head a few more times into the dead ends I've run into."

"You'll thank yourself later," he replied. He glanced up from the folder as Sakura pulled a seat out at the table and began cutting into the apple with a kunai. "Why do you always use those? You dull the blades that way."

"More than when I cut into someone with them?"

Kakashi snorted. "I have knives."

"You do not."

"I do too."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she shifted her weight in her seat, sitting on one hip with her legs crossed toward him. "_You_ have kitchen knives?"

"Yes, I do." He met her doubtful stare solidly for several moments and then looked away again. "One. Somewhere."

"How very domestic of you," she scoffed. "So, ask me about my idea."

Kakashi glanced upwards thoughtfully. "Hm, I don't think so."

"Fine, I'll just tell you anyway. About a paragraph in you'll note that he asks me what I know about transplants."

"Let me guess: everything?"

"Wrong. I know nothing. That's half the reason I got in touch with him."

"Remind me to get a new doctor."

Sakura swatted at him as she bit into a chunk of apple. "I'm talking about transplanting kekkei genkai and I'm not totally alone in that. Research was rare even before it was stopped all together. Rin was probably one of the last medics taught anything about it."

Automatically, she paused at mentioning his old teammates name and took another bite of apple to seem preoccupied. Despite knowing about them (for several months now), Sakura never felt really comfortable mentioning Obito or Rin by name, not even when referencing the Sharingan. It somehow always felt like an invasion of his privacy.

She did an admirable job not jumping out of her skin when he slid a hand comfortingly over her knee before retracting it again.

It was okay. It was as okay then as it was the night he had decided to first tell her about Rin and Obito. It was okay even though things were weird between them now, even though he had carried her to bed the night before, even though she had wanted him to stay with her until morning. They were still them. They could work around weird and awkward—they had been since they had first begun to cobble together this friendship.

"Obito."

Kakashi frowned a little. "What?"

But Sakura's mind had already jumped the rails and was off on another track. In the letter, Ao browbeat her about the importance of information. What did she know about the _donor_ in question? Was there anything in his specific lineage or health record that could affect the transplant down the road? What about the recipient's bloodline? Were there any traces of bloodline traits that could interfere? These problems, the little and overlooked things that could derail her attempts to help, needed to be addressed before any larger picture was looked at.

So she didn't just need Obito's files. She needed the White Fang's as well.

She glanced at Kakashi.

Sakura didn't have the clearance to snoop through personal records at will, but she was only three or four dishes of sake away from a permission slip written out by Tsunade herself—it being easier to get Tsunade tipsy than it was to penetrate Konoha's bureaucratic process. Not to mention cleaner. For Hatake Sakumo's health records the easiest route would be to obtain permission from the still living members of his family—sticky but not impossible. But for Uchiha Obito's? She'd have to get clearance from Internal Affairs and Intelligence and then she'd need to scrounge together recommendations from her senior officers and other officials who knew she'd never leave Konoha with such information and then she'd need a hundred hours of her life to sink all of that effort into because not only was the bureaucratic process obstructive, but it was old and slow.

But Kakashi. She looked to him and hesitated before speaking.

With Tsunade's blessing, she wouldn't need anyone's permission. Not even his. She'd only have to wave the woman's signature in front of the faces of the ANBU guarding the record vault and then take what she needed. Kakashi would never technically have to know.

But she just couldn't do it. Locking him out of the loop would be tantamount to lying to him. Besides, it was _his_ eye, _his_ past, and (theoretically) she was doing the work for _him._

"Kakashi, I…" She rubbed at her forehead as her stomach began to sink with her emotional high. If he said no, she'd be right back to banging her head against that impenetrable brick wall the Sharingan put up around its mysterious nature. "Look, this is something I've avoided from the beginning because it just felt awkward and I thought I could get around it, but if I'm going to take Ao's advice at all I'm going to need to do it and I really need you to be okay with it."

Kakashi lifted an almost incredulous eyebrow at her. "What's up?"

She cringed as she lifted her eyes to his. "I need to pull your father's and Obito's medical records to get a better grasp on the situation. I thought I could get by without them, but I really think what Ao said is worth exploring and I need what background I can get before I respond to him."

He stared at her for a long moment and then looked down at his feet as he scratched at his scalp. "You really don't have to ask me, do you?"

Sakura sighed. "No," she replied. "It just wouldn't feel right doing that and not telling you."

He raised an eyebrow at her, a smile pulling at his eyes. "Are you a ninja or not?"

She scowled at him. "I am, but you're my friend and my patient."

"You've never lied to your others friends and patients?"

"Lovely, you're in one of _those_ moods." Sakura raked her fingers back through her hair and sighed. "I'll come back when you feel less like being disagreeable just for the sake of being disagreeable."

Kakashi grabbed for her hand as she pushed her chair back from the table. "Wait a second, Sakura. Wait," he said. "I was just teasing."

She eyed him for several moments, her hand clenched defiantly into a fist in Kakashi's grasp. "I'm trying to help."

"I know."

"The only reason I even know Obito's name is because _you_ told me about a very dark, very sad time in your life. It took me seven years to hear that story."

"I know."

"If I pulled those files without telling you and you saw them…" Sakura trailed off, her eyes searching his briefly before she gave up and looked away. "I don't know. I don't know how you'd react. I don't know what parts of your world I'm invited into. I just know that it was a big deal the first time you let me in your apartment." She gestured with her free hand to indicate the room.

Kakashi looked thoughtful as he considered this, his hand still grasping hers. "Do you think I'll say no?"

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you'll say. If you don't know, you have this reputation for being kind of unpredictable." She gently pulled against his grip in an attempt to free herself and forcibly repressed the shivers crawling down her spine when he refused to yield and squeezed gently in reply. She raised her eyes to his again and narrowed them at his doubtful expression. "Fine. I wasn't going to get my hopes up for a go-ahead. I know that this is a touchy subject that can't be fun to discuss and then if you go back to that 'it took seven years for you to tell me about it' thing you'll see where I thought my chances were slim. That and you've been pretty reluctant in the past about me doing anything about the Sharingan; always telling me that I don't have to like you don't _want_ me to."

He frowned at this. "It isn't that I don't want your help, I just don't want you to get up your hopes about that. I know you. You don't take defeat very well."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at this, her fist clenching all the tighter. "You don't think I can do this."

"Don't take it personally," Kakashi laughed. "I go into most missions figuring it'll be my last one to ease the blow if it is." He smiled faintly even as she began to scowl in disapproval. "Sakura, don't give me that look."

"Defeatist."

"I prefer 'realist."

"I'm sure you do." She sighed and reached up to swipe the hair from her eyes, her motions jerky and frustrated. Their joined hands had fallen limply onto the tabletop between them, his palm resting over hers. "Look, a yes or no right now would be nice so I can either hit the liquor store and get an early start on buttering up Tsunade or go home and clean my grout."

A hefty pause followed this and despite the sinking feeling yet again bubbling in her stomach, Sakura lifted her eyes from the floor to look at Kakashi. He had a far off look in his eyes, an expression she had gotten to be quite familiar with over time. She raised an eyebrow as he lifted her hand as if to examine it. "Are you still with me?" she asked.

His eyes met hers quickly and creased at the corners. "I'd get a better grade of sake than her usual fare. Just in case."

Sakura broke into a wide grin at this and, before she could stop herself, she lunged across the table and kissed him on the cheek. "I'd thank you for putting up with my pig-headedness but you pay it back in full and then some," she said as she leaned back again, one hand planted on the table and the other grasping his. "I want you to drop by again soon, okay? Maybe tonight?"

"You're exhausting," he sighed as he closed the file and held it out to her.

She laughed and accepted the folder. "Deal with it. I'll see you later, okay?"

Kakashi nodded as he dragged his free hand back through his hair. "Yeah."

Sakura nearly got downstairs before she realized two things. First of all, there was clearly no reason to hope for ever achieving "space" between them—she hadn't thought twice about running to see him as soon as she had that file in her hands. Second of all, she had kissed him. It had been a perfunctory peck on the cheek, but she had kissed Kakashi.

It took her a whole three blocks before she could wipe the stupid, guilty smile off her face.

* * *

1. First and foremost: I'VE MISSED YOU ALL SO MUCH! I am so, so sorry for the delay in updates, but it has been a crazy couple of months for me. I've been working on a screenplay for a college project that stands a good chance of being filmed this spring and my sister had her baby! A beautiful little boy named Max, 7lbs 3 ozs. Things may yet be crazy for a while so don't expect any immediate updates, but I will not allow another hiatus like this one, I swear!

2. I'd like to briefly direct you attention to my profile again, because if you haven't checked it out in a while I recommend you do so. The lovely Ithilium has added an incredible piece of fan art to my collection that is really just so beautiful. I'd also like to direct you all (once again) to the House Calls DA community, where I have been adding the occasional rant to the group blog. If you enjoy the snippets of my very loud brand of insanity provided here, you may very well enjoy the uncut versions over there. Most recently a rant about the two most commonly used (and abused) plot devices in the Kaka/Saku fandom: the age gap and the teacher/student affair. Much sarcasm and impotent whining abounds.

3. Speaking of ranting, here's the short version of a longer rant I intend to write very soon: people DO realize that the kunoichi are more than just tits and asses right? I mean, it's just SHOCKING how they're treated sometimes by fanfic writers, who I have come to understand are mostly GIRLS. If I had a nickel for every time I bashed my head into the desk for the downright sexist portrayal of the Naruto girls in fanfiction I'd be very wealthy (which would come in handy when I had to pay for skull reconstruction surgery). And these are usually the same girls who shriek about Kishi's supposed sexism. I mean... wow. Just. Wow. My favorite example: any time a seduction mission comes up. Never have I EVER seen it done in a way where the seduction mission is necessary let alone the EASIEST way to go about it. And what the hell is up with this idea that being the girl on the team somehow makes her the team bike? Like, she's there to be their snuggle bear? FUCK YOU! I'm all for a maternal portrayal, but screw the idea that any one of the girls is just there to be some of living love pillow!

4. And going hand-in-hand with the above, the way the girls get sexualized is just... God, you guys know that women are more than just vaginas right? And that a GOOD female character has to be more than just a vagina with an attitude, right?

5. Fittingly, I'd like to give this little shout out to a cause I believe in quite whole-heartedly: "Hollaback!" (which can be found online at ihollaback.(org) is a movement hoping to put an end to street harassment. If you've ever been on the receiving end of cat calls, the target of sexual harassment in public, or any similar kind of behavior and felt victimized, dirty, and shamed by it, you're not alone. Hollaback is looking to make this behavior not just illegal but also unacceptable. No more blaming the victims. No more accepting the idea that you just have to put up with it or take it as a compliment. No more.

6. Man, someone apparently flipped on my feminist switch tonight.

7. Time to put on my writer hat. This chapter... is a mess. I don't know. People have been asking for a return of the "house call" aspect of House Calls, so that's what you got in the beginning and then some Team Seven assing around, and then a little Kaka/Saku. Theoretically this chapter was supposed to be a day-in-the-life for Sakura to some extent while also highlighting how her relationship differs with all of the men in her life... but I think I missed my point completely. But it's here and that's better than nothing.

8. I excuse the very quick means by which Intelligence translated the letter thusly: 1. They're Intelligence, meaning they'd probably have to work DAMN fast to get information out in time for missions to be completed. 2. Because I said so.

9. I really have a good time whenever Sakura and Kakashi can snark each other. It's just FUN.

10. Adding this note as an after thought with hopes that some of you will see it: I've bitched in the past about people taking characters portraying them in really unflattering ways. One of my biggest gripes is whenever someone does this to a man in the Naruto universe, especially when they've not proven themselves to be this way... except, as you can see, I sort of went the flirty, cheeky, adorable bastard route with Kiba. I gripe about Genma being portrayed as a skirt-chaser because the man has so LITTLE screen time we don't get to see any of his personality and about Kakashi being made out into a total pervert because we DO know him and that's not really a part of his personality. I felt okay going the fandom "cheeky flirt" route with Kiba because it really kind of fits what we know of his personality, I think. He's this loud, bold, abrasive kind of guy and I don't think he'd be shy about expressing his interest in someone. He's also acting out in front of Sakura and Konohamaru, the former being someone he's known her a good long time and the latter because it's someone to show off to.

11. And while we're adding notes after-the-fact: Yes, they're playing a capture-the-flag type of game, Sai kissed Sakura on the cheek because it made me giggle, and next chapter I think I'll go for a day-in-the-life for Kakashi. Or something similar.


	30. In Which There Are the Little Things

**House Calls**

**Chapter 30**

* * *

Despite his habit sometimes sleeping late in the afternoon, Kakashi was an early riser by habit, often getting up even before the first rays of dawn showed themselves.

Upon shambling into the bathroom, he always indulged himself with a few minutes of standing under the warm spray of the shower (a privilege never allowed on missions) before he soaped up and rinsed off. Another few minutes were spent at the sink shaving before he finally dressed and went to the kitchen to put out food for the dogs.

Being a courteous neighbor and well-aware that several of his floor-mates worked the red-eye at the Tower, were heavily armed, and tended to be cranky upon waking, he always put his shoes on last in the bedroom and then exited through the window. It was just as well as he preferred taking the rooftops in the mornings. The shops were not opened so early, but the keepers were up and about to prepare for the day and he was never in the mood to socialize so early in the morning.

Since first being placed in the apartment at eight years old, his routine had changed very little. At thirteen he began waking up extra early to visit the monument and at fifteen he began shaving what little fuzz was available to pick and pull at his mask, but it was essentially all the same.

Now at thirty-three, he stepped out into the kitchen to set out some food for the dogs and reached for one of the apples on the countertop. Realizing this, Kakashi paused for a moment to reflect on this change with a wry little smile as he ran a thumb over the fruit's glossy, red skin.

There was tea in the cupboard just in case the mood ever struck him and a throw blanket draped over the back of his ratty sofa that Sakura had given him after he spent a weekend wrapped in the thing at her house during a bad bout with the flu. The food in the fridge was always healthy except for the occasional carton of takeout from Ichiraku while the bowl on the cupboard had actually once been hers until she brought it over to ensure that the fruit she got him wouldn't just always go bad at the bottom of the fridge. Her crane still spent its days admiring the view of the alley from the windowsill and every once in a while after she left, he could catch the scent of her shampoo lingering in the air.

There were little touches of Sakura everywhere and each one of them was a small comfort. He had someone. It felt so strange after so long. It was weirder still how natural it had come to them. He was a big enough man to admit that he hadn't exactly doted on her when she was his student and out of everyone he knew she was probably the very last he had expected to feel so comfortable around.

The last person he had expected to fall for.

It was just getting ridiculous. He had shaved _twice_ the day before—once in the morning and once before heading over to her house that evening. It was _insane_ because he had no plans to actually remove his mask but he had never been fond of five o'clock shadow and he wasn't sure how she felt about it and he was experienced enough to know that he was doomed.

The only thing that saved him from being completely mortified by this realization was the fact that Sakura had been wearing mascara and she didn't usually bother unless it was a special occasion or she was going out. So, either she had changed her makeup routine or she was struck by the same insane compulsion that he had been.

This was promising—of what he wasn't entirely sure. All he knew was that it had been enough to bring those damn butterflies back.

Kakashi pitched the apple core into the garbage on his way back to the bedroom and carefully slid his mask back into place before slipping into his sandals and pushing open the window.

* * *

He knew the path to the memorial so well and had worn it down so thoroughly over the years that the turns he made were instinctual rather than conscious. It was within a matter of minutes that he found himself making his way across the familiar training ground. He paused about halfway there and turned back to look out over the well-trampled grass and the beaten striking posts.

It didn't take much effort at all to see himself there with Naruto, Sakura, and Sai, each of them doing their damndest to land strikes that would kill lesser ninja. He was grateful for it, too. It didn't let him slow down enough to feel his age, to realize that in ninja terms he was nearly middle-aged and careening quickly down the path of "old". He was grateful that they would never accept that either.

If he tried harder could see a younger Sakura in her red cheongsam and a younger Naruto in that hideous orange and Sasuke scowling and showing everyone up. A little more effort and he could see Obito and Rin and Minato-sensei and the parallels made his heart ache.

He had spent a good deal of time in the past doing his damndest not to _see_ it. Seeing himself in Sasuke had led to more grief and more heartache than he had counted on one Genin being and he feared not being able to _unsee_ it if he caught that first glimpse of Obito in Naruto or Rin in Sakura. Because they weren't the same.

Obito and Naruto would, no doubt, be quite the pair if Obito had ever lived to meet the Kyuubi vessel. He would have embraced the boy whole-heartedly as Minato-sensei's son, declaring that it'd take more than a demon fox to scare him away. Rin would've taken Sakura under her wing, too. She would have known what to do, what to say to a Sakura who was twelve-years-old and in love and hopelessly in over her head.

But not one of them could stand in the place of the other.

Naruto was not Obito and Kakashi didn't want him to be, didn't want to tarnish the memory of the latter or diminish the importance of the former.

And as for Rin and Sakura? A thousand guilt-ridden doubts nagged him about his feelings for the young woman, the loudest of them accusing him of taking to her because she was just like Rin, because she filled that void.

This wasn't entirely baseless. Rin had been a medic too, had tended toward the same tough love policies, had been the sister and mother and caretaker of their team.

But Sakura was _not_ Rin.

"I don't know what to do," he muttered to the Cenotaph, one hand rubbing at the back of his neck. He glanced at the stone. "I know, you're probably laughing at me. That's fine. One of us should be." He sighed and dropped his arm to his side. "It used to be so easy."

They had… _something_ going on. No matter what had been said, things were changing between them anyway and while someone on the outside might think it looked like business as usual, it didn't feel that way. It felt like he couldn't take his eyes off of her. It felt like all of the details—age, rank, station, partnerships—just didn't matter anymore. It _felt_ terrifying. Like that kind of terrifying it had been to walk up a tree for the first time.

How long had it been since he felt that? Not cold fear—he was far more familiar with that than anyone would believe—but that thrilled, sweet sort of excitement that left you high and foggy afterward?

Years. Years and years.

"I'm sorry if I'm quiet today. I have a lot on my mind," he said with a shake of his head and a look directed skyward. Hours had passed already no doubt. The dark, predawn forest around him was awash in sunlight and the sounds of the birds.

"Ah, excuse me, my friend."

Oh, it was Quiet Gai. Kakashi turned immediately to face him, not surprised that he had managed to get so close without his noticing. Quiet Gai was, after all, quiet in all ways.

"You're all right, Gai."

The man smiled—just smiled, nothing beaming or blinding or capable of knocking an eye out. Ah, Quiet Gai. It was a rare phenomenon that Kakashi was treated to only once in a while when their paths crossed in that field. Gai was not quite as frequent a visitor as he was, appearing only once a month or so, but he always brought flowers as he had that morning and he always put away the booming declarations about youth and beauty for that time for a more respectful sort of quiet. After all, what did youth mean to the dead?

Gai had come upon him talking to himself on more than one occasion over the years and he had never asked. He had lost people as well. He knew the toll it took on the mind, the little things that needed to be done to maintain. So, perhaps in exchange, he went about his little ceremony of laying down the flowers, taking a step back, ducking his head to pray, and then after quite some time he bowed deeply and rose.

Kakashi would have to ask someday who it was that Gai visited. He never had as the man had never offered, drawing an invisible boundary with his silence. Gai, who had no qualms about bellowing out to the world his thoughts and feelings about everything else, had not offered him a single word on his reasons for coming and it was therefore not his place to ask.

Someday though. It was only fair, really. He had given into Gai's questions in time.

"How was the mission?"

"It went very well," Gai replied with a faint smirk. "Water is always an interesting test of skill for my team and for me."

"Mine always complains about the damp."

"Oh, they do plenty of that."

Kakashi chuckled aloud at this, but shortly after fell quiet again.

Gai was gone within the hour, slapping Kakashi on the back and then taking off toward the sound of Lee's voice calling to him through the forest.

Kakashi stayed just a while longer before he too departed, heading in the direction of the Tower. He checked the available missions every morning for something that sounded suitable and often walked away with surprisingly well-paying in-Konoha courier gigs. The individual components of Team Seven were often in demand in the Village—Sakura's work at the hospital, Naruto's work with Tsunade, and Sai's on and off job with ANBU that he didn't deign to mention but that Kakashi knew about anyway—so they didn't often go on away missions unless Tsunade herself dictated something to them. And rare anymore was the high-paying solo mission requiring travel away from Konoha as they had recovered rather well from the war and with more available ninja came less reason to take such risks. So he often contented himself in between team missions with running errands for ANBU, taking documents from headquarters to the Hokage office and back, and then being paid alarmingly well for it.

It was just something to do and Kakashi wasn't one to see himself above such work, no matter how others might view him. It even provided a decent workout. Running at full-pelt over the rooftops of Konoha, bounding between buildings, and through opened upper-story windows was the best cardio he got on the days he didn't have to dodge his teammates' attempts to take his head off his shoulders.

But to his disappointment the very young, very nervous Chuunin at the desk (a newbie) informed him that there were no such missions available at the moment .

This left him with little idea what to do and for a moment he grew very nostalgic of the days of young Team Seven. Yes, they had been annoying, but never boring. Never, ever boring.

He blamed that little wave of nostalgia on the fact that he ended up on Sakura's doorstep next rather than back at his apartment for another hour or two of sleep. It was subconscious, it was unintentional and she was his friend and he didn't need to justify going to see her.

So there.

Kakashi stepped inside without knocking, knowing Sakura didn't expect that from anyone anymore and why get her hopes up that it might change. He smiled at the scent of tea and breakfast in the air and closed the door gently behind him.

"Konohamaru, if that's you with another bloody nose—"

"It's just me."

"Oh! Do we have a mission?"

He chuckled. "No."

A pause. "Are you hurt?" She sounded confused and skeptical.

"Not really. There's not that much blood."

The door flung open a second later and he attempted to maintain an innocent expression as she took one quick step toward him and then paused. Her hair was mussed and damp and she was wrapped in her ratty bathrobe with her skin covered in a slight sheen from the shower. He catalogued these things quickly, but he frowned a little at the sight of the dark circles around her eyes.

She scowled at him. "Not funny."

"Sorry." He stepped further into the room, hands in his pockets. "You, ah, look kind of awful."

"Oh _thanks_."

He rolled his eyes. "I mean the crazed insomniac look doesn't work for you."

She laughed at this and rubbed at the back of her neck as she glanced back at her bedroom door. "I, ah, guess it must be allergies or something."

Kakashi lifted a skeptical eyebrow at this as he leaned his weight against the back of the couch. "Funny. I don't recall you ever mentioning allergies." He eyed her for a moment. "You were up all night with those files, weren't you?"

Sakura pursed her lips at him as she folded her arms indignantly. "It wasn't _all_ night."

He sighed. "Fine. I hate doing this, but I'm pulling rank on you. Go to bed."

She snorted derisively at him. "You can't pull rank on me, Kakashi," she scolded. "I'm a Jonin too and we're not on a mission."

"Fine. I'll go see Tsunade and she'll order you to bed."

Sakura pursed her lips at this. "Then I'll tell her I've been letting you skate by without a full physical for the last two years. She might slap me on the wrists, but _you'll_ be getting the medic-nin variation of One Thousand Years of Death."

Kakashi flinched at this. "Well-played."

Sakura smiled sleepily at him as she leaned against the bedroom doorframe, raking her fingers through her hair. "Not going to take another shot at it?"

He tried hard to ignore how her stance let her robe gape a little, revealing a brief glance of smooth, inner thigh. "I'm thinking."

She laughed and motioned for him to follow her into the kitchen. "Have you eaten? I have some leftovers from earlier. Some pancakes and boiled eggs."

"I'm fine," he replied, propping himself against the kitchen doorframe. "I think you need a break."

Sakura glanced back at him as she rose up on her tip-toes and pulled a teacup from a cupboard overhead. "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"I wouldn't get my hopes up for that, no." Kakashi shifted his weight, watching her carefully. "You'd do the same thing to me."

"Oh fine," she huffed as she poured some tea for herself. "We could train, I guess. I don't know how much patience I'm going to have with the boys today, though. So, if we could—"

"They don't have to come."

They'd whine about being left out. Well, Naruto would whine and Sai would merely sulk but he really, _really_ didn't care right then.

"We could take the dogs out," he suggested as she stirred some honey with her tea. "I'm sure they'd appreciate it.

Sakura perked at this. "That would be fun. I had a really good time with them before." She took a sip of her tea, sighed with pleasure, and set it down. "Okay, just let me get dressed."

* * *

The day was warm, but in comparison to the scorchers that had come before it was beautiful.

Kakashi was especially thankful for this fact three hours into their exercise when the sweat dripping down his face and arms was cooled by the occasional breeze that rattled through the forest canopy.

Sakura had won the coin toss and got to pick her team, taking Pakkun, Bull, Shiba, and Urushi. It didn't exactly shock Kakashi that her mix was inclined to the brute force approach with Bull being capable only of brute force and Urushi being unwilling to choose any other approach, but there was some obvious tactical thinking too. She didn't have his hypersensitive nose or ears so Pakkun was an obvious choice to make up for the detriment and Shiba was a wildcard. If nothing else, Sakura was quite accustomed to working with wildcards and could utilize him.

And she did. In fact, she worked wonderfully with all them.

This shouldn't have meant anything, but it seemed to. She liked the ninken and they _really_ liked her back, to the point where his team didn't seem to be acting as aggressive towards her as they could be. They were just playing.

After a while, so was he and Sakura, to the point where when she finally caught up to him (the dogs being engaged elsewhere with each other), she settled for tackling him to the ground instead of trying to throw him through a tree.

"I call win!" she shouted, throwing both arms up into the air.

Kakashi was unimpressed and responded by reaching out and tickling her sides. Sakura shrieked in protest and slapped her hands down immediately to bat his hands away, which allowed him to get a hold of her wrists so that when he rolled her beneath him, he could pin her hands to the ground.

Sakura glared at him, her legs locked around the backs of his knees so that he couldn't pin hers in turn. "That was a dirty trick."

"Ah, _ninja_," he replied with a happy smile.

She snorted. "You can't use that in the defense of _tickle-fighting_."

"Why not?"

"I don't know." She pulled at her hands trying to test the strength of the pin. "It's undignified or something." She rolled her eyes at the irony of her own words. "It sullies the name of our noble profession, you know."

Kakashi chuckled. "C'mon, at least try to break my grip."

Sakura made a face. "I'm running a little low on chakra—don't give me that look."

He bit back a lecture and shook his head. "Well, think of something. If I were an enemy I'd have you dead six different ways by now."

Sakura scoffed. The sleepy circles around her eyes had lost out to the adrenaline of training, which left her skin flushed with color and glowing a little from a fine sheen of sweat while her hair splayed around her shoulder and stuck to her throat. "If _you_ were an enemy I would've crushed your skull upon pinning you so this wouldn't really have been a problem."

Okay, that ruined the effect a little, which was good because it let Kakashi focus on something that wasn't the bead of sweat pooled in the dip of her throat. "Could you have managed that with depleted chakra?"

"It wouldn't have taken as much chakra as manipulating the muscles of my arms to simulate greater stren—you know what? Just let me up."

Kakashi did so immediately, sitting back on his shins and then rolling back onto his heels and standing. He held a hand out to help her up and tugged her gently to her feet when she took it, marveling for a moment at the feel of how dainty and feminine it felt.

He noted that he probably needed to stop reading Icha Icha.

He also noted the way she was pressing her lips together and staring at their hands, hers having not quite let go of his and his not having dropped hers.

"Uhei, if you don't quit grinnin' like that I'll bite yer ears off. Ya didn't win!"

"You are such a sore loser, Urushi."

"Both of you shut up. They're just through here."

Sakura pulled her hand back to brush her hair out of her eyes, a guilty smile pulling at her lips and an equally guilty look shot his way. Guilty, but not particularly remorseful, just shy of almost having been caught instead of horrified at the prospect of what had been happening.

What _had_ been happening?

Kakashi kept his eyes on her even when the dogs stepped into the clearing and she turned to face them with a bright smile.

* * *

"Are you making notes?"

Sakura glanced over at Kakashi and he opened his eye to look back at her, glancing meaningfully down to the small journal and pen she held. They had settled down for the afternoon at a lake the dogs had been excited to visit again, eager to take advantage of their afternoon outside of Konoha, and Kakashi complied knowing that the minute they went back, Sakura would immediately go back to work.

Apparently even being away from home wouldn't stop her.

"I just had a thought I had to write down," she replied, punctuating her words with the click of her pen retracting again.

He closed his eye again with a hum. "You're supposed to be resting."

"This isn't new for me, you know," Sakura said as she scooted over to him and stretched out in the grass. "When I was first apprenticing under Tsunade, I was awake for almost three days straight studying for my first exam."

Kakashi frowned a little and opened his eye again to look at her. "I don't remember that."

Sakura simply cocked an eyebrow at him in reply, her chin resting on her upturned palm.

Oh. Right. He hadn't had much of anything to do with her those two years Naruto had been gone, had he?

"Sorry about that," he murmured, realizing a second too late that it had actually come out of his mouth. He tried to play it off with a cool look in her direction.

She shrugged. "I was mostly concerned about Sasuke, so I wasn't really thinking about you, I guess." She rolled her eyes. "You weren't missing out on anything by ignoring me."

"This is true."

Sakura laughed and swatted at him with her other hand. He let the blow land against his chest and dismissed it with a smile as his mind wandered. He looked to her and mulled over the probability of his next question going awry, wondering if this was one of those moments when his curiosity would bite him in the ass.

But sound reason eluded him. "Do you miss him?"

"Who?"

Sakura was working her fingers through the ends of her hair, cringing as the tangles broke apart with audible snaps.

"Sasuke."

Her eyes lifted to his quickly and then trailed away, suddenly very interested in checking for split ends.

Kakashi sighed. "Sorry I mentioned it."

"No, no," she said, raising her eyes to meet his again just as quickly. "I… well, gods knows I pry into your life enough and you were there with me and you knew him and…" She sighed. "I do miss him. Sometimes. Every once in a while I wonder if there was anything I could have done to help him; maybe there was something I could have said…" She trailed off and her gaze wandered to watch the dogs down by the bank of the pond.

Kakashi had turned his head fully now to look at her squarely, his brow furrowed with concern. "You know that there wasn't, right?"

Sakura nodded, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "I know." She took a breath and then looked to him with a smile. "I do miss him and sometimes I wonder about the team we could have been." She trailed off with a shake of her head and another smile. "It's in the past though."

He watched her for a long moment as a far-off look settled in her eyes and decided that it was time for a change of topic. "So, how far did you get with those files? Was it worth plying the Hokage with booze?"

She smiled at him and he wondered if she could see through him. "Very worth it," she said. She pushing a lock of hair behind her ears as she sat up, folding her legs in front of her with one of her knees brushing against his side as she faced him. "I only got about halfway through your father's record last night. It's a pretty extensive file." She swiped at that same lock of hair again and then said with some hesitation, "He was an amazing man, Kakashi."

"He was," Kakashi agreed. He took a breath and was grateful that he could when not so many years ago his lungs always seemed to fill with cement at the simple mention of his father's name. "It took me a long time to see that."

Sakura pursed her lips as she looked over to him again. "How… how much do you remember? About him I mean."

He frowned a little to himself as he stared upwards through the branches of the tree shading them. The shadows danced and rippled with the leaves as they swayed in the breeze, which carried on it the scent of the lake and Sakura's perfume. It had been years since he had thought about it. He had spent _so_ much time in the past forcing his father and everything related to him to the back of his mind, trying to suppress the memories—the good with the bad.

"Not a lot, I guess," he said. "We used to go camping sometimes; when we weren't on missions." He paused and then huffed softly in amusement. "He always seemed to around, though. I don't know how he did it." He looked to her then and smiled at the familiar watery look in her eye. "Don't start that."

"Oh shut up," she replied through a smile as she blinked and wiped at the corners of her eyes.

Kakashi smiled and lifted a hand to brush at a stray tear that had fallen down her cheek, brushing it away with a careful swipe of his finger. She caught his hand gently with hers as he was pulling away and wove her fingers through his. When she squeezed, he squeezed back.

Sakura seemed to content with the silence while Kakashi found himself focused on their hands in her lap. At some point they had apparently forgotten to let go and neither of them saw fit to rectify the situation. Not even him. It felt as nice as it had all those weeks ago, as it had just hours before. He blamed her for that, knowing it had everything to do with whose hand it was and nothing to do with the novelty of it.

The Copy-nin ran a thumb thoughtfully over the back of her knuckles. All of the carefully erected walls that were meant to make what he had thought was fated to be a miserably short life easier were suddenly useless. Today was a day that he could have spent in solitude locked away in his apartment with his books and his dogs, like he had spent many days before. Instead he had sought her out.

Kakashi was in over his head. He was in love and he was letting it lead him, maybe even letting it set him up for an even harder fall. Sure this was innocent in comparison to that night on the mission when she had been wrapped around him with her lips against his neck and his hand pressed to the bare skin of her back, but even being innocent it was beginning to mean something to him and that was dangerous. Sakura was just testing the waters. She felt the attraction, felt the pull, but it seemed that she was yet to arrive to a conclusion.

It wasn't too late to put a stop to it, though. He could give her the cold shoulder, could redraw their boundaries, push her away, tell her outright that they were both being ridiculous; it would do them both good in the end. She'd see sense eventually anyway, another nagging doubt told him.

Because all of that had worked just _so_ well the last time he tried.

"Kakashi?"

"Hm?"

"You were kind of spacing out on me."

"I'm sorry, did you say something?"

Sakura was watching the dogs run up and down the beach, probably in an attempt to act as if nothing was inherently strange about the current position and that everything was totally business as usual. "No, but I was thinking that when we get back that I wanted to get some takeout. You're invited."

"All right."

"And maybe you can stick around and go over some more of that code with me."

"Fine."

"And maybe let me examine your Sharingan."

He scoffed. "_No_. Your chakra was too low to even break my grip earlier."

"But it doesn't take as much—"

"Don't care."

"Spoiled sport."

Sakura rolled her eyes as she said this, but even then she was smiling and when she squeezed his hand it made something in his chest ache.

He could deal with falling; with drowning. She was worth it. She would be even when she did come to her senses. It wouldn't even be at the sacrifice of their friendship. If they could bounce back from being wrapped around each other like lovers on that mission, they could recover from the innocent things too. He just wanted the little things for a little while.

A few minutes later Sakura finally laid back into the grass beside him, their hands still joined and resting comfortably between them.

"We should probably head back soon," she noted quietly a few more minutes later.

He hummed noncommittally in reply and she made no move to act on this observation.

* * *

1. Hola lovers!

2. I _hate_ writing from Kakashi's POV. I hate this chapter too, but we won't get into that because I'm sure we're all tired of hearing it.

3. Quiet Gai is quiet. I had bigger plans for this bit but they kind of... fell through? I don't know. What you, my gentle readers, didn't know going into this adventure with me is that I am a terribly lazy writer.

4. Actually, let's go back to that 'this chapter sucks' thing. I have reasons this time. Good ones too. I don't hate this chapter because of pacing issues or having to rush through a larger concept or something. I hate it because of the content really. KakashiInLove is a rather difficult creature to pin down. It's tough balancing him between the two extremes you often see in fanfics: having denial coming out of his ears and purple prose pouring out of his mouth. I feel like I've missed my intended mark, though. I'm sort of rolling with the idea that Kakashi isn't quite capable of deluding himself that he's not in love when he realizes that he is, but that he's not willing to put himself out there to declare it at the top of his lungs either.

5. But he sure is quick to think about it. A lot. I'm sorry that so much of this chapter takes place primarily in Kakashi's head. I also apologize if I've repeated anything here that I've established in previous chapters. Thirty chapters of continuity is hard to keep up with and I don't regularly reread the others.

6. This is kind of meant to be the counter to last chapter. We spent all of last chapter in Sakura's POV, so we're spending this chapter all in Kakashi's. What you may notice is that last chapter, Kakashi didn't appear until the very end. What I was trying to pull off is the idea that even while Sakura has a large social circle, it's Kakashi she runs to when she has something exciting to tell and it's Kakashi that she's the most comfortable to babble away at and that she really can't, no matter how hard she tries, cut him out of her daily routine. For this chapter, you might notice that Kakashi goes straight to Sakura's about mid-point. This is because he doesn't have that same social circle and even if he did, he'd probably still go straight to her house. She's the one he likes spending his time with, which is a big deal for someone who's lived such an isolated life for so long.

7. All right, I'm done bashing you guys over the head with plot points. Seriously, if I can't get that shit across in the chapter, what kind of a writer am I?

8. And yes they're holding hands. Keep in mind that this would probably have a lot of significance for them both because it is such a simple gesture with a lot of connections to younger, more innocent times in life.

9. Ah, I know this probably means nothing at this point, but we will be seeing a lot more closeness next chapter. Like... a lot. Also, a resolution of the UST is forthcoming. Soon. Ish. Will Kakashi and Sakura confess their love for each other? Tch, like that isn't a foregone conclusion at this point.

10. Hmm, something to close with. The notes have all been chapter related this time and totally unfunny. Can't end on that note. Hmm...

11. Well, when all else fails let's resort to tropes. Today's trope: Strangled by the Red String. Definition: The Red String is a concept you'll see a lot in Japanese works. It's the theory that everyone has a invisible, red string tied to their pinkies and that at the end of that string is their soul mate. When you strangle a couple with the red string you're basically taking a couple who go from being total strangers with absolutely no sexual tension or romantic connection between them and then the next time the reader turns around they're passionately in love and sweatin' up the sheets with no development in between. Actually, it's basically that thing Twilight does best. You get nothing in between "Oh, this guy who I don't know AT ALL is breaking into my house to watch me sleep" and "HE ISH MAH TWU WUV!".

12. You know what? Twilight might have warped the perception of love for thousands of easily influenced young girls and forever damaged the concepts of feminism, the romance genre as a whole, and the very fabric of time and space, but it is rather handy to have around as a "What Not to Do EVER" manual.


	31. In Which We Finally Get Some Action

**House Calls**

**Chapter 31**

* * *

It was late into the afternoon when Kakashi and Sakura finally saw fit to drag themselves back to the village. Only then, when they reached the gates, did Sakura give Kakashi's hand one last squeeze and then let go as she shot a glance in the direction of Kotetsu and Izumo, who were just coming into view. Izumo was kicked back in his seat with his head tipped back and Kotetsu sleeping soundly beside him.

Kakashi crinkled an eye in understanding and simply watched as she raised a hand to wave to the pair.

"Hey, guys!"

Izumo snapped to attention and then, spotting who it was, relaxed visibly. "Oh, hey Sakura-san," he called back. Then he perked again and looked to her. "Oi, heads up! Tsunade-sama was looking for you!"

The medic cringed at this. It was no longer the same sign of certain pain that it had been in the past, but it was reflexive after so many years of knowing the woman for Sakura to wince at the idea of being sought out by Tsunade. There were just some things she'd never get over. "Did she say why?"

"Nope."

"Did she seem angry?"

Izumo glanced to Kotetsu, who had no opinion to offer on the topic between his soft snoring. He visibly rolled his eyes. "Not that I could tell."

Well, that was a good sign at least.

Sakura sighed and waved again. "Okay, thanks." She turned to Kakashi, wringing her hands and baring her teeth in a nervous semblance of a smile. "So, this should be fun."

He hummed in sarcastic agreement as they began walking again. "What do you think she wants?"

"Hard to say." She brushed the hair out of her eyes and then shrugged. "It might have something to do with last night. She probably wants to know what I asked her to sign."

Kakashi's brow furrowed a little. "If she remembers signing it, doesn't it defeat the purpose of getting her drunk to do so?"

Sakura laughed. "It's not so much that you don't want her to remember. It's more that you just want her to comply and by the end of the day Tsunade isn't in any mood to comply with anything less than a direct order from the gods. Maybe not even then." She spared him a sideways smile. "Besides, I was asking for a file pertaining to a member of the Uchiha clan and for obvious reasons even Tsunade won't pass out that kind of clearance most of the time. Sake just greases the wheels… and blurs the names on the permission forms."

He chuckled aloud at this and looked to her with open curiosity. "So, what are you going to tell her?"

Sakura sighed. "The truth I guess."

"Just like that?"

"Well, I do plan on making another stop at the liquor store." She looked up to him then with a weary smile. "I guess this sort of cuts our plans for dinner short."

Kakashi shrugged, his hands tucked into her pockets. "It doesn't have to." He lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck when she raised an eyebrow at this. "Well, you could run off to the tower and take care of Tsunade and I'll pick up dinner. Then we'll just meet back at your place later." He shrugged again, dropping his hand. "If you want."

There was no use in denying the way her heart leapt into her throat. It was, after all, such a common occurrence anymore when in his presence that it could no longer be dismissed as a sudden and unfortunate arrhythmia. "You don't mind?" she asked. "You don't have any plans?"

He laughed, actually laughed at this. "Sakura, when do I _ever_ have any plans?" he asked with a tilt of his head and a good-natured crinkle of his eye.

Sakura chuckled as well as she worried her right pinkie between her left fore and middle fingers. "Good point." She took a breath and tried to summon a smile that wasn't nervous. "So, it'll probably take an hour or two depending on just how blurry Obito's name looked last night and then I'll be home."

Kakashi nodded and then tossed a casual salute her way. "See you then."

* * *

They spent the night composing her response to Ao and it was the same as many of their meetings before.

Except in a lot of little ways it wasn't. Sakura was quick to blame endorphins or insanity or sheer stupidity, but she found herself sitting closer to him on the couch, leaning into him, and then nearly exploding with girlish delight when he laid an arm around her shoulders.

But it was Kakashi and it could mean anything. It was rare when Naruto sat down without throwing an arm around her and even Sai understood that a kiss on the cheek was just a kiss on the cheek. They were affectionate gestures shared between friends. It would be stupid to assume that it meant anything more coming from Kakashi than it did coming from either of them just because _she_ wanted it to mean more.

Did she, though?

A small, insistent part of her knew what was happening and knew that it wasn't going to just go away. After all, her first instinct upon receiving the translated letter from Shikamaru had been to run to Kakashi, who really didn't _have_ to see the letter as it contained nothing that could be of any interest to him. She just hadn't been able to resist going to see him. Naruto and Sai wouldn't have shared her excitement and Ino knew very little about the work she was doing with the Sharingan so it would have gone entirely over her head. Kakashi wasn't as ecstatic as she had been of course, but he always tolerated her babbling and did his best to pay attention. It was one of those things that made _him_ her best friend in many respects.

The rest of her, though, was simply too terrified by the prospect to let her mind go there. Even if it was getting to the point where denying _her_ feelings was ridiculous, the idea that it was more than a crush or the notion that he might possibly return them were two things she refused to even think about. She at least had experience with unrequited feelings. If Kakashi felt the same way for her that would just open up an all new can of worms.

She had to shake off the thought again much later that night after Kakashi had left. Or rather, earlier that morning? Bah, it didn't matter. All that did was the fact that she couldn't sleep with her mind racing so and with no wounded to heal she settled down at her desk to read, fueled by anxiety and the desperate need for distraction.

* * *

"Hold still!"

"Pig, this isn't necessary! I put make-up on this morning!"

"Are you sure? Because it looks like someone gave you two black eyes," Ino retorted as she dabbed a bit of concealer onto Sakura's cheek bones and then swept it up to cover her dark circles. "Do you ever sleep? How did you pass your exams without knowing that humans need _sleep_? And for the love of the First, do you know what this is going to do to your skin when you get older? You'll have to make sure Tsunade-sama teaches you that henge before she dies."

Sakura sighed. This is what she got for stopping in at the flower shop after going out for her early morning cup of tea. "Pig, I think your vanity has reached some kind of singularity. It's starting to affect _other_ people."

Ino replied in the mature, reasonable way one could expect her to: she stuck her tongue out. So floored by this level of eloquent and witty repartee, Sakura fell silent with a resigned roll of her eyes.

"Patients keeping you awake?" the blond asked after a long gap of silence as she began work on Sakura's other eye.

"Kind of. And it's _a_ patient. Just one."

Ino scoffed. "He'd better be hot."

Sakura laughed at this and shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"Kakashi then," the blond guessed with a sagely nod. "I don't know. My money's on him being gorgeous. It'd just be anticlimactic if he was anything else, you know?" She eyed her friend, turning her head from side-to-side to inspect her work. Satisfied, she capped the concealer and tucked it back into Sakura's hip pouch as she stepped around her on her way back to the counter where a half-arranged order of flowers was waiting for her. "So, I dropped by your place yesterday to see if you wanted to go out for lunch and you weren't around."

Sakura hovered behind her friend for a moment, wondering if she should remain standing in case a hasty escape from the topic at hand was required. She settled for leaning against the cupboard just to Ino's right. "I was training."

"With the boys?"

"Yes."

"Weird. I ran into Naruto and Sai at Ichiraku when I went looking for Chouji and Shikamaru." Blue eyes slid casually over to Sakura, smiling.

Sakura scowled a little. Ino's father would have been so disappointed in her; hadn't she learned anything after all of those nights she had spent at the Yamanaka compound? "Fine. I was with Kakashi. Don't tell Naruto or Sai, though. They'll whine about being left out."

"Fine, but why did you lie?" Ino wondered aloud as she looked contemplatively between the gardenia she was holding and the arrangement she was working on. "Why lie that you were with the boys when you weren't with the boys? I could have mentioned something to the boys about you guys being gone all day or something and they would have exposed you, so even saying that you were lying to cover up the fact that you went without them doesn't make any sense."

The pinkette frowned. "I'm pretty sure _that_ didn't make any sense."

Ino went on unabated. "So, it must be because you were with Kakashi. Why lie to me about being with Kakashi? You're with him almost every day anyway."

"Oh, I am not."

"Oh, please," the Yamanaka giggled and waved a dismissive hand. "You two are practically attached at the hip anymore." She paused at this and then glanced over at her friend as she tucked the gardenia into place. "But I guess that's a good thing," she added quickly. "You're good for each other, I think."

Sakura narrowed her eyes. Ino sounded shy now, almost hesitant, and that set off about a dozen alarms. "Really?" she prompted.

Ino cleared her throat and nodded. "Well, yeah. You're… I don't know." She paused again and stared long and thoughtfully at her friend. "You've been spending a lot of time with him lately and you seem happier. A lot happier" She twirled the stem of another gardenia between her fingers. "Not that you've been depressed—I guess I wouldn't really know that, but I think I would have noticed if you were—it just seems like it's been a long time since I've seen you really happy."

Now _that_ Sakura had to think about for a second. She was a lot of things when she was with Kakashi, usually frustrated but also giddy and relaxed and… yes, happy too. She smiled to herself. Being with Kakashi made her happy.

A part of her wondered if she made him happy too and hoped earnestly that she did.

"Sakura?"

She snapped back to reality in a second and smiled wider when she met Ino's eyes. "He does make me happy," she said finally. "Sorry, I was just… thinking about something else."

Ino stared at her for a few more particularly long moments and just when Sakura began to grow uncomfortable her friend's lips unfurled into a wide smile. This new development outright scared her. It was one of those terrifying, I-Know-Something-You-Don't Yamanaka smiles.

"What?" she asked suspiciously.

The blond was practically beaming now. "Nothing," she said finally. "I'm just… happy that you're happy."

Sakura eyed Ino. "Uh-huh."

"Good morning, sweetheart." Inoichi, tying his apron into place, suddenly appeared from the back room to break up the moment. He smiled when he finally spotted Sakura. "And good morning to you too, Sakura-chan."

"Morning, Daddy," Ino replied, still smiling as she contemplated the arrangement in front of her.

"Good morning," Sakura said with her eyes still transfixed on her friend.

Inoichi stepped up to stand just behind his daughter, placing a hand on hers and Sakura's shoulders as he leaned in to kiss the top of Ino's head. "What are you girls up to?"

"Nothing," Ino replied with an innocent tip of her head. "Did you sleep well, Daddy?"

He eyed his daughter suspiciously for a moment, leaning slightly away from her. "Yes, thank you, Ino," he murmured. He watched her smile for a moment longer, leaning even further back. Finally he made a face and shook his head as he turned away. He squeezed Sakura's shoulder as he passed. "I'm going out to the greenhouse."

The girls watched him go and only when he disappeared from the room did Sakura lift her hands in surrender. "All right, I draw the line there," she said. "I'm so out of here. You creeped your dad, of all people, out with that smile."

Ino laughed. "You're both such drama queens." She paused to watch Sakura as her friend shrugged her bag back over her shoulder, letting it come to rest against her hip. "Off to the library?"

Sakura looked down at her bag and then nodded. "Yeah. You know, it feels sometimes like I'm _never_ going to reach a point in my life where I don't have to do homework."

"Well, that'll teach you for being smart," Ino teased. She tucked another blossom away and then snapped her fingers. "Oh hey, warn a girl the next time you decide to dump some extra work on Shikamaru. The only time it seems like he wants to talk is when he's cranky."

The pinkette laughed and nodded. "Sorry about that."

Her friend waved the apology off and then after a moment of silence between them the Yamanaka shot her a sideways look. "So… do you have anything to tell me?"

"Hm… no?" Sakura raised an eyebrow as she shifted her weight a little. "No news on the research front, although I finally did finish a reply to that letter, so I might be bothering Shikamaru again a lot sooner than he'd like. I also have to arrange to meet with Neji sometime soon, but he's hard to get in touch with."

Ino sighed, looking distinctly disappointed. "I can mention something to Tenten or Lee the next time I see them." She twirled the last of the cut flowers in her fingers as she stared hopefully at the medic. "So, nothing else?"

Sakura looked thoughtfully into the air. "Nope. I think that covers everything. Thanks, Ino."

The blond nodded and looked resigned for a moment before she began to smile again, softer this time. "Hey, Forehead?"

The medic paused at the door and raised her eyebrows with a questioning, "Hm?"

"You haven't mentioned that crush of yours again since we talked before," Ino began, leaning across the cupboard on her elbows to look at her friend, "And that's just not fair. You can't tease a girl with a juicy detail like that and then just leave her hanging."

Sakura laughed in order to shake off the sick feeling in her stomach. "There's nothing to talk about," she said. "Nothing's changed."

Ino propped her chin on an upturned palm. "What's holding you back?"

Now distinctly uncomfortable, she shifted her weight. "I don't know, really. It's complicated, I guess." She took a breath and then shrugged. "I don't even really know what he feels about me."

Although she had a lot of hopes and theories.

"Well, you know the best remedy for that, right?"

The pinkette smiled, knowing better than to ask for one of Ino's solutions but direly curious despite herself. "No, what's that?"

"Shock him." Ino was grinning was ear-to-ear again, but it was different this time. It was the smile of a wily veteran of the flirting game sharing pro-tips with a newbie. "Do something crazy. You might be surprised by the response."

Sakura laughed. "I'll think about it. Later, Pig."

"Later, Forehead."

* * *

The next week passed rather uneventfully. A few ill-timed visits from returning team kept Sakura out of bed even after she had put away the files for the night (early morning) to get some rest, but she was adjusting and getting just enough sleep to no longer warrant the worried questions from Ino, though Kakashi's frowning, disapproving looks remained a constant.

"Saku—_mph_!"

"Quiet, Dickless."

Sakura, who had been asleep at the table, had snapped to consciousness at the sound of the door handle turning. She smiled to herself upon realizing who it was.

"Get your hand—what are you—_oh_. Geez, you'd think she didn't have a bed."

"Hm." Sai's voice was suddenly closer even though she hadn't heard a single one of his movements. He spoke next in a whisper, "I'll take care of these files. You should take her to her room."

"You never let me handle the files."

"They might be classified and I have a higher level of security clearance than you do."

"Yeah, rub it in. C'mon, Sakura-chan, time for beddy-bye."

Sakura did her best to keep a straight face. That state between sleep and consciousness was such a blissful, warm place to be and she didn't feel particularly inclined to give it up just yet. Even when Naruto hefted her up into his arms, she remained still.

It was only when Naruto got her to bed and stood there helplessly frozen by the question of how to pull back the covers of her bed without dropping her that Sakura finally gave in.

"Naruto, it's okay. You can put me down."

"Dammit!" The blond cringed. "I'm sorry. Did I wake you up? I didn't mean to."

She smiled as her feet touched carpet and wrapped an arm around his waist to give him a reassuring squeeze. "I've been awake since you guys opened the door. It's fine."

Naruto rubbed at the back of his head and then went about pulling the covers back on her bed anyway while she raked her fingers through her hair. "Did you get any sleep at all?" he asked as he pulled a face.

Sakura glanced over at her alarm clock as she flopped down onto the bed. She smiled a little and shrugged her shoulders. "Three hours."

"I knew Sai and I shouldn't have come over," he muttered, his bottom lip jutted out into a pout.

She waved that off and smiled. "It's fine. Did you guys need something?"

"Ah… breakfast?" He grinned sheepishly as he sat down at the foot of her bed and watched her pull the covers up over her lap. "But don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. We can cook it ourselves and we'll even make a little extra for you. Get some sleep, okay? We'll make sure no one bothers you."

It was a sweet sentiment, she thought as she watched him step out. But the idea that Sai and Naruto could manage to do anything quietly—more-so the latter than the former—was laughable. This was more or less proven a few seconds after Naruto pulled her door shut and she heard the first crash from the kitchen. Swearing and name-calling swiftly followed.

Sakura fell back into her pillows with a long sigh.

Close. She was so close to a solution that she could smell it; taste it.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In her mind's eye she retraced chakra pathways and nerves, felt out how they came together and where they divided. Kakashi was a genius and thank the gods for that or the Sharingan would have been useless to him, maybe even to the point of overloading his brain with data and sensations that it couldn't possibly sort through. Maybe there _was_ an explanation for the tendency toward mental imbalance in the Uchiha line.

Ao had questioned in his letter whether or not the Sharingan was properly sealed. Sakura could only assume so. She didn't know enough about seals to delve into that particular line of questioning and could only go by Tsunade's assurance that everything was where it should be.

She hadn't really thought about it before even though she had always questioned the logistics of the transplants. Kakashi was not a Uchiha and Ao was most certainly not a Hyuuga. So not only were they missing the bloodlines for the bloodline limits they utilized, but also the proper DNA to make the transplants work. But it made sense now. A properly designed seal, she supposed, could bridge those gaps. She didn't know much about fuinjutsu other than the basic techniques most ninja knew and what she had learned in her individual studies, but it seemed more likely a solution than anything else she had come up with.

Except, the problem wasn't specifically the fact that it was Kakashi. A quick dive into the archives suggested that most Uchiha began to suffer from issues with their eyesight later in life, whether they had achieved the subsequent levels of power or not. The problems began in the optic nerves. With use over a lifetime the sheer amount of chakra the Sharingan required to be activated and used caused the pathways to deteriorate, which eventually corroded the nerves the pathways were attached to. So, could another seal fix that or was it just an uncorrectable flaw in the Sharingan's design?

Sleep, Sakura could tell, would be a pointless endeavor.

She opened her eyes with a sigh and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. Raking her fingers through her hair, she made a beeline to the shower.

* * *

Since Sai had been shooting her worried looks very similar to the ones Ino had been giving her—which made her wonder if the blond had put him up to it—Sakura decided that she would have to sneak out. This was harder than it sounded. Anyone could sneak out from under Naruto's nose with very little effort, but it took a rather substantial distraction to keep Sai occupied enough to allow for it.

Like Naruto.

Once on the street, Sakura started to hike toward the library while rereading Ao's letter.

A part of her knew that she was probably officially obsessed. Where exactly this newfound vigor was coming from was anyone's guess, though. She was wont to blame it on some combination of her frustration with how very little she had accomplished up until this point and some good old fashioned pigheadedness, but a part of her wondered if it wasn't something else.

Like an increasing need for distraction away from _other_ things, thoughts, and feelings.

"You look like shit."

"Afternoon to you too, shishou."

Tsunade gave her the fish-eye from behind the veritable mountains of paperwork stacked up on her desk. "Have you been sleeping? You can't be. You look like Gaara."

Sakura returned the fish eye. "See if I ever bring you lunch again."

The blond glanced wearily at the clock on the wall and then began to scowl a scowl that would make most wise men take cover. "Noon," she muttered to herself. "It's _noon_ and I'm not even halfway through this mess! Shizune! This is inhumane!"

"What is?" Sakura asked, bewildered.

Tsunade shot her a stormy look. "She took the liberty to clean out my desk this morning and she won't give any of it back!" She shouted this last part directly at the door.

The medic rolled her eyes. "She's not out there. I passed her in the hallway; she was on her way to drop files off at the hospital," she explained as she sat the take-out bags down in front of Tsunade and then reached down to lift the hem of her skirt. A moment later she straightened with a flask in hand. "Good thing I've gotten used to hiding it when I bring you booze. I used a henge to make that last bottle I brought you look like a bouquet of roses."

"Gods love you," Tsunade muttered, leaning across the desk to take the flask and unscrewing the cap. "So what did you want? Must be a pretty small favor this time if you just brought lunch and a jigger."

"It's more that I can't afford to keep buying you whole bottles of the expensive stuff," Sakura replied as she dropped into a chair opposite of the Hokage. "I need information on fuinjutsu."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at this. "Why?"

"I have a theory."

"Is this about Hatake?"

Sakura smiled. "Who else?" she asked.

"I don't know. Maybe one of the hundreds of other ninja in this village?" the blond replied with a still skeptical look. "Or even one of your other teammates—you still keep them around, right?" She took a sip and then let out a long, satisfied sigh. "All right. What's the theory?"

She shifted a little. "I don't know if I'm comfortable enough to explain it just yet, just in case I'm way off," she said. "Give me some time to refine it."

"So what do you need from me? I assume you already raided the library." Tsunade reached next for one of the bags of food and 'aha-d' softly when she discovered her favorite dish inside.

Sakura scratched at the back of her head. "I don't suppose we have anyone in the village versed in complex fuinjutsu…?"

Tsunade shot her a dry look. "You know as well as I do that that isn't a field anyone really masters," she replied. "But I suppose since you're so hell-bent your best bets are… me and Hatake, I guess." She laughed. "You don't have much luck with teachers, do you?"

Sakura smiled. "I've been more than blessed in that regard."

"Damn right you have been," the woman replied with a smirk. "But I'm honestly not holding out on you. Those are your best options." She looked upwards and then shrugged. "I guess there's Ebisu too. And if you can dip your hand back into the Hyuuga archives it couldn't hurt to check there." She looked back to her student. "Fuinjutsu isn't like the other fields. It's not just applying your chakra in the correct manner; it's in the seals too. In a lot of ways, it's like a whole language unto itself."

"I've been learning a lot of those lately," the pinkette murmured to herself.

Tsunade pointed with her chopsticks as she sifted through the bag with her other hand. "I have been meaning to ask about that letter."

"I've finished my response, actually," Sakura replied. "Now it's just a matter of waiting for his answer to that."

"Do you plan to ask him about your theory?"

"I might."

The blond hummed. "Come to me before you start making any trades—and there will be trades. Ninja don't do anything for free. Especially ninja from Kiri."

Sakura nodded, deep in thought with her eyes focused on something on the ceiling as she twirled a strand of her hair around her finger.

Tsunade watched her apprentice as she chewed a piece of chicken. "So," she began slowly. "You've been putting a lot of time into this. Is there not enough interesting work at the hospital?"

The medic glanced her way and smiled. "Well, you have to admit that just about every training injury pales in comparison." She paused and straightened in her chair. "You don't think I'm focusing on it too much, do you? I mean, I have been doing other work. I see other teams at my house all the—"

"I know that," the blond cut in, waving a dismissive hand. "And I know that if I told you to give it a break, you'd just keep working on it behind my back so why waste my breath?" She shot Sakura a stern look next. "But you _do_ need to get more sleep or it's you we'll be tying down to the hospital bed and I'm sure that Hatake would be more than happy to help the staff keep you there. Am I understood?"

Sakura pouted at this but consented with a nod.

* * *

And she would totally heed Tsunade's warning just as soon as those files stopped calling her to them with their tempting siren song.

It was nearing midnight and Sakura stood in her kitchen, making herself a cup of tea as she mulled over a page taken from Sakumo's file and laid out on the cupboard beside her. She had her hair tied up and was wearing a thin smock, enjoying the cool cross breeze blowing through the house's opened windows. After another sweltering day, she was grateful for the night of reprieve.

She had bickered with Sai upon her return from the Tower that afternoon while Naruto waited nervously in the wings wringing his hands. While Sai was as cool and unreadable as ever, the blond's posture told her that they had had a talk behind her back and since Sai never worried about mincing words he had decided to put a voice to their concerns. He told her as much just before he began to insist that he respected her medical expertise, but was concerned that she was being reckless with her health.

If she hadn't been so absorbed in her work at the time, she might have taken note of the underlying threat in his words. Sai was concerned and Sai was not content with inaction when it came to his friends.

"Sakura."

She jumped and then snapped a hand out to rescue Sakumo's birth record from a splash of tea before whipping around to face Kakashi. She slapped a hand to her chest. "Gods, warn a girl," she laughed. Then she began to frown as she headed over to the kitchen table to put the page back where it belonged in the safety of its manila file folder. "Where have you been all day?"

"I was busy."

And there was only one thing that warranted such vagueness. "ANBU?"

"Yes."

Sakura spared him a critical look over her shoulder. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"No."

She stared at him for a moment longer. His eye was creased, but not in the smile she was so familiar with. He looked worried and annoyed with something in her general direction and after a few more prolonged seconds of this, she began to feel mightily self-conscious. "All right, enough of the monosyllabic grunting," she said. "What's wrong?"

His eyes refocused, meeting hers. "I wouldn't have given you the go-ahead on those files if I had known you'd do this to yourself."

This _again_?Sakura's notoriously short temper, shortened further by a lack of sleep, snapped and having had enough of being pestered she assumed an aggressive stance with her hands on her hips. "What do you want, Kakashi?" she demanded. Handily enough, if he wanted a fight he'd get one.

Kakashi leaned his weight into the doorframe and crossed his arms. Belligerent; ready to meet her head-on. "Go to bed."

Sakura snorted at this "No." She turned away and threw herself into the nearest chair at the table so that she was posed with her back to him. "Are we done?"

"I'm not asking, Sakura."

She frowned at his tone, but didn't turn to face him again. "You're not my nanny, Kakashi." And thank the Hokages for that; that was a little too kinky for her. Then, deciding she needed a distraction from that particular train of thought and to lighten the air, she teased, "You know, you were less of a bother when you didn't care."

There was a pause and then this statement was followed by an undignified yelp from Sakura when a hand came down between her legs to grab the seat of the chair while another grabbed under the backrest. She then froze when she was lifted—chair and all—and relocated a few paces away from the table to the center of the room. (It occurred to her then that she very much disliked being so portable.)

She narrowed her eyes when Kakashi leaned over her, his hand still poised over her shoulder on the backrest of the chair while the other rested on her leg, presumably to hold her in place. "I have always cared," he said firmly.

Sakura closed her eyes. "Okay. I didn't mean it like that," she murmured, laying a hand over his on her thigh. "I'm sorry."

His eye softened considerably at this. "Fine," he said. "Now we're back to our original argument: go to bed."

"I have work to do," she growled, gesturing to the table located over his shoulder.

"It'll be there in the morning." He paused at this and narrowed his eyes. "_Maybe_."

She scowled. "Didn't I already say that you weren't my nanny? Because you aren't."

"But I am your friend."

Sakura took a breath and pursed her lips. "I'm doing this for you."

No, that didn't sound right.

"Then stop it." He almost sounded angry as he stared at her and she couldn't recall a time when Kakashi had ever been angry with her. "If you're killing yourself over this for me then stop."

Her thoughts were already elsewhere, though. She _was_ doing this for him, right?

Well, yes. The _research_ was to fix his Sharingan, to preserve the only momento he had of his best friend, and to help him keep being the Copy Ninja.

But the sudden, obsessive focus? That was for _her_.

A guilty pang resounded through her chest. She was worrying him and the boys and Ino out of her own selfishness, something that she thought she had renounced ages ago. She was worrying them because she had needed a distraction, something to latch onto that would keep her from acknowledging something a part of her had long ago begun to suspect.

Sakura snapped to attention when Kakashi suddenly lifted her from the chair and pulled her over his shoulder. She slapped at his back, partly because her smock was so not covering what it should be anymore and partly because this was humiliating and degrading and she was not four-fucking-years-old.

"Put me down!"

Wish granted, Kakashi dropped her moments later onto her bed. She landed with a bounce and an angry snarl that made her sound like a feral cat whose tail had been pulled, but before she could yell at him he was already placing seals on the doors and window. Fuinjutsu. She'd have to mention it to him sometime when she wasn't supposed to be so pissed off.

Kakashi finished by picking up her desk chair and sitting it down in front of the door. He sat down and crossed his arms. "Sleep."

Caught somewhere between wanting to laugh, wanting to punch him, and wishing that she possessed similar audacity, Sakura could only initially respond by gaping at him.

And she was in love with this jerk?

There, she thought as her heart began to hammer against her breastbone and her angry façade began to slip. It was acknowledged and it could not be undone.

She was in love.

"I honestly expected more yelling."

So had she. More kicking and screaming too; more fighting tooth and nail against making such an incredibly huge and stupid mistake. Why did she always fall for the wrong guys? First someone who had slowly devolved into a sociopath and now her teammate and best friend.

"I'm working on it," she replied in a half-whisper.

Kakashi was pitched forward, his elbows on his knees and his gaze focused on her and she found herself wondering, as she met his stare, why she hadn't noticed that look in his eyes before. Maybe it was just hope and love and stupid twelve-year-old fantasies taking the reins and clouding her judgment, but it didn't feel like that. This wasn't just Kakashi as her team leader ordering her to get rest because she was a vital component of a well-oiled machine. This was also the man who had taken his mask down in Wind Country and trusted her not to peek; the same one who had pulled her up tight against him in that hotel room and stole her breath, who made her just as breathless by holding her hand and not letting go.

Sakura wasn't experienced when it came to romance or men, but there were signs. There had been signs for some time now.

"You're going to stay all night?"

"If you make me."

Do something crazy, Ino had said. She took a breath. It wasn't usually in her to take Ino's advice, but if nothing else it would finally draw a boundary of some sort and boundaries were what she dearly needed to rein herself in. "I mean... would you please stay?"

Kakashi stared at her baldly for a moment, but she went ahead and assumed this was a good sign (a bad sign being if he had outright fled). Bracing herself, she scooted over towards the far side of the bed and then tentatively patted the pillow she left behind. Then, mortified, she laid down with her back turned to him and just barely resisted the urge to smother herself.

It was an experiment. Sakura's empirical mind grasped for a sense of comfort where she would otherwise be flailing. It was all she had to work with.

A few moments later, her projections for the experiment—the sound of the door opening and shutting, days of avoidance, another exceptionally awkward conversation—were suddenly and violently thrown out the window when she felt the mattress shift behind her. There was the soft rustle of clothing as Kakashi's vest was removed and thrown onto the chair in front of the doorway followed by the quiet _thunk_-_thunk_ of his sandals hitting the floor.

What now, genius?

Sakura closed her eyes when she felt Kakashi very gingerly slide an arm around her waist and without a second thought she laid her hand over his, squeezing gently.

The room was absolutely silent for some time except for the soft sound of their breath.

"Sakura?"

It was a thousand questions in just one spoken word and Sakura almost laughed as she recalled a time when he had accused her of being a mind reader. "Just… don't let go."

He pulled her closer in reply.

* * *

Sakura wasn't sure what really woke her—the slight rustle of noise from the kitchen or the jerk of Kakashi's arm as he reacted to it. Either way she couldn't think of a worst time for wounded to show up. She had not only been soundly and happily asleep for the first time in a while, but Kakashi was in her bed and while it was perfectly innocent it was still somehow a huge milestone.

"I think someone's about to put an end to your plan of making me sleep," she whispered with an attempt at good humor and more than a little regret.

"Sounds like it," he agreed and then after a moment, he added, "It's ANBU, I think."

Sakura sat up slowly, sitting back onto her knees and then dragging her legs out from under her as she raked her fingers through her hair. Kakashi sat up too, pressing his back to the wall and one knee to his chest. At first neither of them said anything or met the other's eyes.

"That was…" Kakashi began but trailed off.

Sakura smiled to herself as she pulled at the hem of her smock. "Great."

"Very."

Her smile widened a little when he hesitantly reached out to slide a hand into hers. She replied by meshing her fingers with his.

What were the odds that Kakashi, someone who never seemed to be much of a fan of physical contact, was now openly engaging in and even initiating it out of the spirit of _friendship_?

A gentle, but insistent knock sounded at the door and Sakura turned to narrow her eyes at the sound. "So, you should probably—"

"Go out the window?"

"I was going to say remove the seals, but that's a good idea too now that you mention it."

He huffed softly in what sounded like amusement and when he slid out of bed to get dressed Sakura followed and began groping around in the dark for her robe. This was not like their little scene in the hotel. This could not be ignored and it couldn't be explained away as stress or a collective, temporary lapse into insanity.

Sakura found her robe draped over an opened drawer of her dresser and paused to look out the window. A glance at the clock confirmed that it was nearing dawn already. She pulled her hair from the collar of her robe and then loosely did the belt before turning to face Kakashi as he approached. "Okay," she began, whispering to keep from being overheard by anyone outside the door. "I have a stupid question to ask." She pointed toward the bed for lack of a better place to point or something smarter to say. "That… what was that? I know I started it so I should know but I don't and I don't know what to think right now." She looked back to him and sighed as she folded her arms self-consciously. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling but I need… something. I'm confused and—"

Kakashi suddenly stepped closer and she fell immediately quiet as he lifted a hand and laid his palm against the side of her neck, his thumb tracing the underside of her jaw. "Sakura, close your eyes."

She frowned at this and eyed him. He didn't yield or elaborate, but simply lifted his eyebrows expectantly.

A part of Sakura, the part that was still a bit peeved about being carried to bed earlier, wanted to be petulant and refuse, but she had patients waiting and Kakashi seemed content to let them until she complied. So, with a resigned sigh and a cross look, she closed her eyes.

Honestly, Sakura had read Icha Icha enough times that she should have known what was coming next, but this was Kakashi and the last thing she could have ever expected was the sensation of his lips against her cheek.

Bare, mask-less lips.

She drew in a startled breath and fought the urge to open her eyes. At this proximity she could smell his aftershave. It was something she had never noticed before, and the clean, woodsy scent had the approximate effect of a bottle of sake because when she turned her head to breathe it in she suddenly felt dizzy and giddy at the same time. Her hand—when had it moved?—found his sleeve to clutch as his hand slid around her waist to press into her back, drawing her into him until she could feel the stiff material of his flak jacket against her.

Ino would have been proud to know that she didn't flinch or freeze or outright faint at the first, hesitant brush of his lips against hers. She would approved whole-heartedly when Sakura suddenly stopped thinking so hard and decided to simply respond to the fact that Kakashi was kissing her, skin to skin, and it was amazing.

But it didn't make her knees weak like she had always thought might happen when kissing the man she loved, but it did make her heart race and she wanted nothing more than to pull him closer. But she didn't. She didn't run her fingers through his hair like she wanted to or throw both arms around him and drag him back to bed. It was perfect the way it was and there was no need to ruin that.

He pulled away only to lean in again for one more lingering taste and Sakura welcomed it eagerly.

Then he was gone. Or it seemed that way. Sakura was foggy on the details as she had been too busy attempting to process what had just happened. She vaguely recalled the brush of his lips against her temple and maybe a parting word spoken, but when she opened her eyes all she knew for certain was that her bedroom window was open and he was nowhere to be seen.

Honestly, she should have been angrier than she was in that moment. He kissed her and then vanished into thin air, but for the most part she was just grateful that it hadn't been another dream. That terrified her too, of course, because it meant that Hatake Kakashi had _really_ kissed her and that was all the proof she needed that this was something a little more serious than a flirtation for _both_ of them and their relationship was officially and decidedly something other than purely platonic now. But she'd think about that sometime when she wasn't feeling so damn giddy and self-satisfied.

Sometime soon as fate would have it, because a sharp rap at the door abruptly jerked her from this haze and firmly planted her feet on the ground again. Sighing she turned toward the door. "I'm coming!"

* * *

Sakura never made it back to bed that night. Her patient had been brought in by his partner, it being a two-man assignment, with a bad chest wound that had her sitting up with him for the remainder of the night as he coughed up the blood that had pooled in the lungs.

She was grateful for the time this gave her to think, though. She had little else to do between her patient's bouts of consciousness and coughing fits and even if she could have gone back to sleep, there likely wouldn't have been much of a point. Thoughts were racing through her mind so quickly that they were soon an incoherent mess. It didn't help that she was otherwise caught in a cycle of disbelief and then girlish delight that made her choke back a squeals and giggles. She had a witness after all, no matter how unconscious he was, and it would be a shame to have to drug him until it all seemed like one big hallucination.

It wasn't long before another thought occurred to her, edging out the need to silently shriek and shake in happiness: what had taken them so long? The kiss had felt as natural, as genuine and right as anything else between them. Was this then the next logical step?

Sakura found herself mulling this over until the first rays of morning light began to creep in through the window.

She wouldn't, she decided as she reached forward to check her patient's pulse, go straight to Kakashi's that day and give him a piece of her mind no matter how badly she wanted to. Perhaps it was sleep deprivation or simple spite, but it only seemed fair to let him sweat it out after he had been so quick to disappear on her.

* * *

1. Hola lovers! (Sorry guys, that just makes me giggle.)

2. These chapters feel short, but I think I'm still just reeling from Chapter 29. When I came back, I came back big apparently because 29 was over 10,000 words long. Yeah.

3. I don't know. Feel free to ignore the Sharingan side plot. That's not what we're here for, but I feel like I have to finish it since I've introduced it and it's kind of fun trying to concoct an answer to that problem.

4. Random thought: So... I'm not particularly hot to see Kakashi's mask removed any time soon. Not that I don't want to see what he looks like... it's just that we already have. When you may ask? Well, if Chiyo can be believed and Kakashi looks exactly like his father... we've seen Sakumo. If you assume that Sakumo died in his early thirties and that his appearance around the ethereal campfire coincides with his appearance at the time of his death, you have your great unveiling, do you not? As proof I cite the appearances of Shikamaru and his dad, Kankuro and his father, and Naruto and Minato as proof for the series' tendency to make sons look like mini-mes of their fathers.

5. There might be a slight delay in the next update. I will be juggling a new writing schedule for myself since I want to get serious about my original works and trying to finish them. Fear not, I will still be updating. If you guys want to keep in touch, I update with blogs pretty frequently over at the House Calls DevArt community and I'd love to hear from you guys there.

6. I really like it any time when Tsunade can be bitchy and awesome. I really enjoy writing her and Sakura as a slightly antagonistic big sister/little sister match up.

7. WHAM! A kiss!

8. I hope it doesn't seem too abrupt. I mean, yeah how can it with 30 chapters of build up but I did just decide to throw the kiss in there last night when I realized I had an opening. We'll probably get another KakashiPOV-centric chapter next time.

**(All right, that's it for notes. Send me lots of love you guys, I've been down with the cold from hell for the last week and I love nothing more than to shamelessly milk you for sympathy-reviews!)**


	32. In Which We Find Our Footing

**House Calls**

**Chapter 32**

* * *

To prevent Sakura from rubbing his face in it, it was imperative that she never find out that Kakashi did not sleep upon returning to his apartment that night.

"Sakura's again?" Pakkun asked from the bed when Kakashi stepped inside and let his flak jacket fall to the floor. The rest of the dogs were absent, likely still out digging through dumpsters for scraps or menacing the squirrels on the training fields.

"Yeah."

The Pug looked ambivalent but said nothing else, even when Kakashi shucked his shoes and then slumped backwards onto the bed.

It was Sai's fault that he had gone to Sakura's house that night. The boy had dropped by earlier that evening to explain the situation—Sakura was still overworking herself, he and Naruto had found her asleep at the kitchen table again that morning, and most frustrating of all she wasn't listening to reason.

Kakashi didn't bother asking him why he and Naruto hadn't tried to haul her to bed. Sure, they were now a good bit taller than her and physically more imposing, but the face Sai made had really said it all. Both he and the blond had been on the receiving end of Sakura's fury in the past and petite or not the woman really packed one hell of a punch. It seemed that only Kakashi was willing to brave those dainty fists.

Not an hour after lying down, Kakashi got up and began pulling on his shoes again, ignoring Pakkun's questioning, confused look.

The idea of the little things being enough, any possible ambiguity surrounding their feelings, the possibility of it all returning to the comfortable, intimate distance friendship allowed; these things were all now well and completely fucked. If Sakura offering him a place in her bed was some kind of absurdly abstract test from the gods, Kakashi had failed.

He had gladly, happily failed. Those few hours had been as close to a dream come true as he had ever gotten in life and they left him stupidly, deliriously happy.

There was no real excuse for the kiss except that had hadn't been able to help himself. It would have been no easier for him to ignore Sakura's confusion and anxiety than it was possible for him to stop being a ninja. She was asking him for reassurance and it was the only way he knew how to say that it wasn't a game to him, that he felt the same pull, the same desire. They were in this together, just like so many other things.

And if the way she had kissed him back was anything to go on, he felt it safe to assume that she understood.

Kakashi sighed as he slipped out of his bedroom window. It was earlier than usual for his visit to the cenotaph, so he forwent the rooftops and took to the streets at a lazy pace, his hands in his pockets. His mind was too riled for sleep, his thoughts rapidly cycling through all of the risks and possible repercussions interspersed with the memory of how the dip of her waist had fit so perfectly in his hand. Walking would at least give him time to think and come up with the right things to say to Sakura when she finally came looking for him.

* * *

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Sakura's brow began to tic along with the noise and as she came to consciousness she prepared herself to brutally and violently murder whatever was responsible for disturbing her sleep.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Naruto, I swear to the First if that's you…"

"Guess again."

Sakura flinched at the voice and cracked open and eye to check—yeah, it was exactly who she thought it was. "_Gods_. For the record, that face is the _last_ thing most women want to wake up to."

"I haven't had any complaints." Kankuro grinned at her from around the intricate pattern of his paint. "Up and at 'em, princess."

He had been tapping the fingertips of his replaced arm against her bedroom doorframe and given the cheeky look on his face, it had done everything he had hoped it would. "Izumo and Kotetsu aren't doing their jobs properly," she grumbled. "Aren't they supposed to keep intruders _out_?"

"Hey now, I'm not an intruder. I'm a diplomatic envoy sent in the stead of the Kazekage and lucky you I need an escort. Your friends at the gate were very insistent about that. Actually, they sent me your way."

"Great. I'll have to thank them for that later."

"As long as you'll let me watch."

Sakura frowned into her pillow coverlet. Vaguely, she registered that it still smelled a little like Kakashi's aftershave and soap. "Isn't the diplomatic stuff Temari's thing?"

"She was out on a mission, so Gaara asked me."

"Wow. He must really have wanted to get rid of you to risk his relationship with Konoha like that." She pulled the pillow closer and took a deep breath, raising her eyes briefly to look at the clock. Gods, she had only been asleep for four hours. "Look, go find Shikamaru and bug him. He handles a lot of the political things with Suna."

Additional weight suddenly shifted the mattress and Sakura felt an annoying, insistent tickling at the sole of one foot. The fingers responsible felt strangely smooth and wooden and she wondered if it was normal that that didn't particularly creep her out. "Yeah, no. He's Temari's plaything. C'mon, I'll let you buy me lunch."

"How tempting."

The insistent tickling was suddenly under the blanket, at the back of her knee, and travelling north. Sakura immediately jumped away from the sensation, fleeing to the head of her bed and drawing her legs protectively into her chest. "Out," she snapped, pointing at the door.

Kankuro grinned at her. "I got a new poison I want you to look at too."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What makes you think that you can get me out of bed with a poison?"

"Because I've known you for a long time," he replied with a smirk as he pitched himself closer to her and added in a soft voice, as if he was telling her a secret: "It's a neurotoxin that works as an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor."

Sakura snorted in amusement. "I love it when a man talks science to me," she said, drawing a laugh out of the Suna-nin. "What's its mechanism of action?"

"Take me to Tsunade-sama and I'll let you find that out yourself."

She glared at him for a moment and then grabbed one of her pillows and threw it at his head as she got to her feet. "You're such a tease," she grumbled, moving to the dresser to grab some clothes. "Give me five minutes. And get out of my room."

Kankuro raised his hands in surrender as he stood from the bed. "That's fine. I'll just go get myself settled in the guest room."

Sakura felt the ticking in her eyebrow return. "Don't you dare! There are hospitality rooms at the Tower!"

"I can't hear you!"

* * *

"Kankuro? Hey man! I didn't know you were going to be in Konoha! Did Gaara come with you?"

"'Course not, idiot. He's got to stay where the paperwork is. Yo, Sai! How'd it turn out with those last two tattoos?"

"Very well. Would you like to see them?"

"Hell yeah, man. How'd you get the ink in place by yourself? I had a bitch of a time."

"Hn, that makes sense. Ink is a more unforgiving medium than you're accustomed to."

"Oh, fuck you, man. Who do you think keeps up with the paint job on my puppets?"

"Oi, Sakura-chan! Did you know that Kankuro was here?"

Sakura made a straight shot for the kitchen without acknowledging Naruto, Sai, or especially Kankuro. She needed tea, coffee, caffeine through an intravenous drip—something if she had to be awake at this hour with as little sleep as she had gotten over the last week. She reached for her tea pot in the cupboard over the stove and dragging it over to the sink.

"I take that for a yes?"

"Yeah, we've already caught up. She said she'd be my escort for my stay in Konoha, even offered to put me up in her guest room and everything. Sweet girl."

"Heh, yeah that sounds like Sakura-chan."

"Perhaps Naruto or I should escort you today. Sakura has not been sleeping lately and requires rest."

"Oh, that's why she looks—"

Sakura slammed both fists into the kitchen cupboard. "Do not finish that sentence!" she shouted.

"So damn sexy!"

She rolled her eyes and began reached into the cupboard again for tea. If only Kankuro wasn't related to Gaara.

"Sakura-chan?"

She turned to the voice and forced out a smile when she saw Sai standing in the kitchen doorway. "Hey. Do you want some tea?"

"No, thank you." Sai moved closer to lean back against the cupboard beside her, attempting to look casual and rather failing at it.

Sakura smiled. "Something on your mind?"

He opened his mouth to respond and then closed it again after a second, his brow pinching in thought. "I will attempt to convince Kankuro to allow Naruto and I to escort him through Konoha today," he began with a furrowed glance in her direction.

"Oh, don't worry about it," she replied with a flap of her hand as she sifted through canisters of loose-leaf tea. "I'm going to drag him down to the labs at the hospital anyway. He has a new poison he's going to let me look at and I can't turn that down." She looked to him and smiled, lifting a hand to touch his shoulder. "But that's very sweet, Sai. Thank you for looking out for me."

Sai spared her a smile, but it faded quickly. "May I ask a question?"

Oh, this again. Sakura did her best to hide her pained expression. "Yes?"

He stared at the kitchen doorway for some time and then finally looked back to her. "Do you have feelings for Kankuro-san?"

This startled a laugh out of Sakura. "I'm sorry?"

Sai shrugged and gestured to the door. "The way you two speak to each other," he began and there was suddenly another pinch in his brow, "It sounds like… flirting?"

Sakura frowned a little at this and stared thoughtfully at the doorway as if looking into the next room, one hand propped on her hip and the other resting on the countertop. "I guess it might to someone on the outside," she agreed with a mirthful chuckle. "But we're just goofing around."

This was even more the truth then than it ever had been before. With every breath, with every minute clearing the sleepy fog form her mind, she recalled something else about the night before. From the way it felt to have Kakashi's arm around her to that first shy touch of his lips to her cheek, as if he had been asking permission, it was all fresh and new and it had her stomach doing flip-flops. Flirting or not, Kankuro was just about the last thing on her mind.

She mentally shook herself to clear her mind. It wouldn't do to spend the entire day thinking about Kakashi when she couldn't _do_ anything about him. As much as she wanted to tell Kankuro to get lost she knew she couldn't leave him to Sai and Naruto. She'd be blamed when he inevitably missed his meeting.

An hour, she told herself. She got priority when it came to meetings with Tsunade provided the elders didn't need to see her for something. They could be in and out in an hour and she could put off examining that poison for the next day. _Then_ she could leave Kankuro to Sai and Naruto and claim blissful ignorance of whatever went wrong afterwards—her job as an escort having been done.

"Explain?"

She shrugged as she scooped some loose tea leaves out with a tea strainer. "Flirting with someone doesn't mean that you have feelings for them," she said. "Like Ino. She flirts with a lot of guys, but that's just the way she is. It doesn't necessarily _mean_ anything; it's just something she does. For some people it's a part of their personality. As for Kankuro and I, we're just being idiots. _We_ know what we mean."

Sai frowned. "I thought that flirting was a means of expressing sexual interest."

"It can be, but sometimes it's just another way to show that you're comfortable with someone or having fun." She narrowed her eyes at the still-confused expression on his face and turned to face him again. "Okay… for example, we've seen each other naked."

He raised an eyebrow at this. "Yes."

"Are we sleeping together?"

Sai started at this. "Of course not."

Sakura shrugged. "It's a little like that."

"That is an insufficient explanation," he groused. "We are teammates and you are my medic, so naturally that means nothing to you or me. It would, however, mean something very different if Kankuro saw you naked, would it not?"

The medic sighed in exasperation. "Sai, why are you so worked up about this? We're just goofing around."

"I thought that the conventions of dating and romance were that when you are seeing someone, you did not flirt with other individuals." He shifted uneasily and his voice dropped to a bare whisper as he added, "I was under the impression that you and Kakashi-senpai…" He trailed off, looking uneasy.

Sakura's eyes went wide, it surprising her more to _hear_ it than it was to realize that Sai had been aware that things had been changing between her and Kakashi. Of course he had noticed. Sai might have had the social skills of a five-year-old, but he watched them all like a hawk to learn from their interactions with people and each other.

"You sneak!" she hissed. "That's what you were trying to get at when you were asking me all of those questions about dating and… oh!" She reached out to smack his arm. "That's what you meant about older men understanding me better! And that's why you've been so _weird—_even for you!"

Sai shrugged. "I began to notice a change in your demeanor toward one another after the mission to Amae. You were uneasy around each other and it worried me. I thought perhaps you had had a falling out. Apparently I was quite wrong." He eyed her critically. "So… you _are_ seeing each other?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm not really sure, but I'm hoping to figure it out."

"What happened?" Sai asked, his eyebrows lifting.

"Nothing really," she replied with as much intentional vagueness was possible as she glanced at the kitchen doorway again and lifted a hand to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "Um, Sai? Why did you bring this up? Now? Out of curiosity, I mean."

No, she _meant_ that if any one of those ANBU had overheard her and Kakashi or could _see through walls_ or something, she was going to have a lot of elite necks to wring. She knew that Sai was still plugged into ANBU in some way or another, so it was entirely possible that the rumor hadn't gotten any farther but she didn't want to fathom if it had.

Sai nodded toward the kitchen door. "When you came out of your bedroom, you were acting annoyed but you were smiling. You have also put on your nicest dress and perfume." He reached out to adjust one of her shoulder straps and then smoothed his palm over her shoulder as another quick smile pulled at the corner of his lips. "Hence my concern that it had something to do with Kankuro."

Relieved, Sakura laughed aloud. "I see."

"But I take it now that you are going to see Kakashi-senpai today?"

She smiled guiltily and nodded. "I am."

He mirrored her nod and took a moment to contemplate her. "You have no need to worry," he began and she raised her eyebrows at him in surprise as he smiled again. "Discretion is one of my greatest strengths. I will not tell a soul." The smile faded quickly into a contemplative frown. "You may come to me if you find yourself in need of someone to confide in."

"Curiosity?" Sakura asked with an ironic smile.

The ex-ROOT agent shrugged. "To an extent. However, I have read before that it helps to talk about this sort of thing. I understand that Ino would typically be better suited for such a task as she is a 'girlfriend' and, in many ways, better qualified, but I believe I am far more capable of keeping it a secret."

Sakura smiled, but didn't get a chance to reply before Kankuro shouted from the other room, "Sometime today, ladies!"

* * *

Tsunade was cranky. This was to be expected on a Tuesday morning (on any morning really) and when Tsunade was cranky, she tended to drag meetings out to prolong the misery of everyone involved. And if the way she kept grumbling the words "extravagant" and "Sand brat" under her breath while reading the scroll Kankuro had brought her was any indication, Gaara had made some sort of (likely pithy and completely rational) demand in the name of their villages' peace treaty and it was rubbing the woman the wrong way. Right then Sakura knew that this could be expected to drag on for an extra long time.

Two and a half hours later, Sakura stepped out of the office feeling rather cranky herself and consumed with the desire to strangle something. Kankuro was just as annoyed walking out of the meeting, which might as well have ended in name-calling and raspberries for as professionally as it had all gone down, and also felt the need to share it.

"Bitchy old hag," he grumbled.

Sakura stabbed him in the ribs with her forefinger.

Kankuro ignored her and heaved a sigh as he stretched his arms up over his head. After a thoughtful pause, he looked to her and asked, "Want to go poison some lab rats?"

Yes. Yes she did.

* * *

Kakashi heard Sakura the minute she stepped into his apartment and took a moment to contemplate his approach. If he came out of his room to meet her, she might think him too eager and women were turned off by that, right? But if he stayed in bed, Sakura would be forced to come get him and that could just anger her more… or lead to something infinitely more interesting.

His decision was soon made for him when he heard the slam of the front door and muffled grumbling. He hesitated, worried vaguely that she sounded so pissed because of him.

"Amazing he hasn't killed us both yet."

Ah, so this was either Naruto's fault or—

"Stupid sand brat."

Kankuro's. _Huh_. He hadn't seen that coming. Slipping his sweater overhead, Kakashi padded over to the doorway and stepped out.

Sakura was at the kitchen cupboard, unpacking a bag of groceries and grumbling.

"Yo," he greeted, his voice failing halfway through when he noted a rather sizable bruise forming on the outside of her left thigh. "What's up?"

"I've come to a conclusion."

"Which is?" His heart jumped and then sank in anticipation.

"Every afternoon needs to start off with the possibility for neurotoxin exposure and an emergency decon."

Kakashi blinked in confusion and then slid over to the kitchen table, to grab a seat. "Are you all right?"

Sakura sighed. "I'm fine," she said. "There was just an incident in the lab today. Kankuro came from Suna to handle some diplomatic things and he wanted me to take a look at his newest poison and right then I should've known there'd be trouble because he's never as careful as he should be."

Kakashi stared at the back of her head for a moment, his eyes narrowed, and his head tipped to the side and he tried to figure out what exactly was going on. He had expected her to storm in and slap him or, more preferably, jump him or _something_. Instead he got what he got _every_ time she stormed his apartment. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, either. At the very least, it meant that she couldn't be too mad.

"Then Tsunade was in a lovely mood this morning and felt the need to share it with _everyone_. I swear I love Shizune like a sister but the next time she decides to take away Tsunade-sama's sake, there will be words."

The Copy-nin raked his fingers back through his hair. Was she trying to tell him something? Did she want to pretend that last night never happened? Because he wasn't so sure he could manage that.

"So, back to the neurotoxin thing…?" Yes, back to that. It'd be nice to know if he'd have to employ Sai in the covert takedown of a Kage's close relative for endangering their teammate.

Sakura flapped a hand at him as she slid a half carton of eggs into the fridge. "Forget it. I guess I'm as much to blame."

"And the bruise?" he nodded to her leg.

"Emergency anti-toxin," she muttered, lowering a green-glowing hand to cover the offending mark with a slight frown. "But it works out. Anything offensive Tsunade-sama said during the meeting is pretty much cancelled out by one of Kankuro's poisons putting an entire lab at risk. Gods, that _idiot_."

She turned back to her task at hand and Kakashi found himself staring at her, fruitlessly willing some sort of answer to come to him. Okay, he might be a little rusty, but he hated to think that he had been the only one left reeling from that kiss.

Maybe she hadn't understood him. Maybe she thought that _he_ would want to forget it or maybe she was expecting _him_ to say something.

Or maybe she did understand, his natural pessimism whispered. Maybe she did and she was running. He was older than her—too old for her probably—and they were supposed to be friends. Maybe she was trying to tell him to just let it go, to ignore it, because she sure wanted to.

He swallowed and ran a hand through his hair in frustration that he valiantly did not allow into his tone. "So, you're okay?" That much had to be established before anything else.

Sakura laughed. "Of course. Then again, Kankuro has decided to take over my guest room for the night and Sai and Naruto were talking about hanging out there, so my house is temporarily not mine and that bugs me of course. I guess I'll have to let whoever's on duty at the gate know that I won't be home in case any teams come back tonight." She heaved a sigh as she turned to face him, her back resting against the cupboard. "I…"

Kakashi lifted his head when she suddenly trailed off and a concerned frown began to pull at his lips when he found her eyes boring into him. "What?"

* * *

Had she just walked into Kakashi's apartment babbling about Kankuro?

Sakura stood in awe of her own idiocy as she took in the pained look in Kakashi's eyes, the frustration that had his shoulders tense and bunched up around his ears. Gods, what was he thinking now? Probably that she hated him or that she was in denial or that she hadn't been thinking about him all morning—which she had been until the lab accident, but she thought that that was pretty reasonable.

He looked so _confused_ right then and it took her breath away. Kakashi tended to avoid even the simplest kinds of intimacy and he had kissed her that morning. She knew him well enough to know what a huge step outside his comfort zone that was and she knew that it meant _something_—something terrifying and wonderful.

But when she stormed into his apartment ranting and babbling, instead of cutting her off and demanding some sort of answer, he had sat down. Even when he probably had a thousand questions he wanted to ask, he had settled for listening to her and being there. Like he always did. Like he always was.

Gods. How hadn't she fallen for him sooner?

Kakashi was already out of his seat, approaching her with that same concerned furrow of his brow and looking at him, really looking at him for the first time since she had arrived, she found herself steeped in memories again. The mask might have been in the way now, but she didn't need to see his lips to remember how soft they had been, how right and perfect it had felt, and she didn't need to throw her arms around him to recall how good it had felt to be so close to him.

Embarrassingly, this time her knees did go a little weak.

Fortunately, Kakashi was there with one hand on her waist to steady her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked one more time.

"Yes… well, no." She shook her head to clear her mind and when she opened her eyes again she lifted them to meet his and oh so tentatively laid a hand to rest against his chest. "I'm so sorry, Kakashi. I'm such a flake sometimes. I come in here rambling and it must look like I'm trying to avoid what happened, but I'm not. It's just been one hell of a day, but I… I thought about you all morning."

Kakashi didn't say anything, but instantly he lifted a hand and laid it against her neck, his thumb stroking the curve of her jaw and her heart skipped when she felt his clothed lips against her cheek, his breath fanning out across her skin. It sent shivers straight down her spine as her gut clenched and her heart began to hammer against her ribs. Vaguely, she wondered if he was doing it on purpose—repeating everything that had happened much earlier that morning. As if she would ever forget.

Something inside of her gave away just then. All of the protests she had summoned to steep herself in denial, all of the reasons she had come up with to keep him at arm's length were rapidly crumbling.

"Say something, Sakura." He was watching her now, having pulled back enough to look her in the eye as his hand dropped from her neck to pet her arm, as if he was losing his nerve.

She was so tired of thinking; of running, of weighing risk and reward, of trying to reason her way out of this. She wanted him and she was taking the liberty to assume that the fact that he had kissed her was a confirmation of his feelings. How much simpler did things get?

A lot. She could name a thousand things right then that were simpler than baring her soul to him (even though that had always been so easy in the past).

Taking a breath to steel her nerves, Sakura stepped closer and, on her tip-toes, leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She slid one hand into his hair, reveling in the feel of the coarse strands, and then pressed the other to his cheek, thumbing the thin material of his mask.

Kakashi took an almost ragged sounding breath and tightened his hold around her in return, pulling her closer as he dropped his forehead to touch hers. She tipped her head, brushing the tip of her nose against his once and then twice before letting her lips gently ghost over his through the mask before she pulled away again. It was electric, everything that touching him before had been, and it made something in her burn and ache.

"I don't want to pretend that last night didn't happen," she whispered and she could feel herself shake when his fingertips traced the curve of her spine. "I don't want things to go back to what they were this time." She stopped herself short and took a breath before forcing a smile that she hoped didn't look as nervous as she felt.

For a long moment—a moment that felt like an eternity—he didn't say or do anything. Then his eyes creased and he let one hand drop from her waist to take one of hers, his thumb gently rubbing across her knuckles. "This is crazy, you know," he said, warningly.

Sakura's smile simply widened. It wasn't the answer most women would have rejoiced upon receiving, but she knew Kakashi well enough to ignore his words and listen instead to the strong, steady grip he had on her hand and the way he was looking at her. "Maybe," she agreed.

It felt nice to be able to tease him even then and when he laughed it came out as a low, smooth tone that sent a bolt of pleasure straight through her to the very tips of her fingers.

"Stay for a while," he said quietly.

Dizzy through some combination of elation and thrilled panic, Sakura could only nod.

* * *

It was strange, Kakashi thought as Sakura shifted restlessly beside him. He had never been so elated and so tense at the same time.

He glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye to see that she had finally gotten comfortable, resting on her side next to him and her fingers playing with his threadbare comforter.

Their current position was something of a happy accident. He had decided to shower while she was busy cleaning up after their late lunch and when he had finished, he had laid back in bed to think. It was something he did all the time and he hadn't thought anything of it until Sakura had come looking for him. She had paused in the doorway, her expression torn between reluctant curiosity and critical amusement.

Deciding to test the waters himself, he didn't say a word to explain himself and simply extended a hand toward her. She had hesitated briefly, but accepted the offer just as silently and settled down beside him.

Embarrassingly, he couldn't remember the last time there had been a woman in his bed, but he was pretty sure that the entire act of sex had never felt quite as perfect as Sakura stretched out beside him in that dress and smelling so wonderful.

He sighed.

It wouldn't be an issue of age. No one would care (even if it made him feel a little self-conscious). Rare though they were, there were still clan marriages taking place between girls who were barely fifteen and men almost in their forties. And it wouldn't matter that Sakura had once been his student. Tsunade had laughed at him once when he had referred to her as such, declaring that she had done _far_ too much work on the girl for him to have taught her anything. It had stung a little at the time, but he was grateful for it now. Words straight from the Hokage's mouth could not be argued with.

But there was that little matter of commanding officers fraternizing with their subordinates. Now, Sakura escaped the classic definition of subordinate given her designation as their team's medic, which allowed her to act independently as she saw fit, but they were still teammates at the very least and that too was frowned upon. Romance between teammates was a taboo. It led to distraction on missions, led to screw-ups, led to progressively more horrific scenarios that he didn't particularly care to extrapolate right then.

"Hey?"

He turned his head to look at her. "What?"

She was watching him, her eyebrows pinched together in concern. "You're so tense," she said, sitting up and propping herself on one hand as she pet his arm with the other. "You should really stop thinking about this so hard. Or at least talk to me instead of just laying there festering."

He sighed. But one of them needed to be thinking this through and as she seemed perfectly content to just be content (and he was happy to allow her that), the responsibility fell to his lot.

"No one can find out about this." Kakashi inwardly cringed at his own words. He had been thinking for an hour now how best to say it and "bluntly, sounding as ungrateful and dickish as one can manage" hadn't exactly scored a spot in the top ten.

Sakura cocked an eyebrow at him. "No kidding." She lifted her hand from his chest to comb it through her hair, which had become pleasantly mussed with her restless shifting. "I can't imagine how Naruto would react and I don't care to. Then there's the matter of… well, everyone else really. I wonder if other villages have the problem with gossip that Konoha does." She lifted her eyes again to his finally and smiled. "Besides, you and I still have a lot to figure out for ourselves and we don't need anyone else sticking their nose in."

Kakashi smiled to himself and the panicked flutter of butterflies in his gut quickened when she slid over to him. Without preamble she laid herself across him, letting her feet dangle off the side of the bed as she folded her arms over his chest. Tentatively, he raised a hand and laid it upon the side of her neck, dragging it slowly down over the rounded curve of her shoulder and then down her side, over her ribs.

Gods, it was strange being able to touch her when he wanted to and in the way he wanted to touch her. And it was wonderful that she wanted to touch him back.

He let his hand get as far as her waist before he stop. This was all so simple, so innocent, and yet it meant so much more than the simple tryst of bodies he had known before. And it was Sakura. He didn't know how it worked, how she could have gone so quickly from just being his friend to being something so much more important, but he sensed that there was no reason to fight it.

Kakashi ran his fingers through the ends of her hair, lost again in his thoughts. He had never had a meaningful romantic relationship in his life, had never even really dated (most of the women he had courted over the years counting as either targets or clients), and he found himself somewhat at a loss for a strategy here. Sakura was so much younger than him and it seemed inevitable that she'd get bored and change her mind if he couldn't—

"Kakashi." He blinked, realizing belatedly that Sakura had shifted and was leaning over him, a hand planted on either side of his head. Not that he minded. It was rather intriguing, actually. "Get out of your head and talk to me."

A wry smile pulled at his lips. "Sorry."

She leaned back, sitting on her hip and staring down at him, one hand coming to rest on his chest. "What are you thinking so hard about?"

"It's nothing."

Sakura frowned at him. "Kissing me didn't somehow short out your ability to talk to me, did it? Because I'm going to miss that."

"I was just…" He took a breath. "You'll have to be patient with me. I'm new to this."

"Well, that makes two of us."

He dragged his eyes off the ceiling to look at her directly and felt some tension leave him at both the completely disarming smile on her face.

"Look, I know you're worried about the details," she began as she reached out to brush his hair off his forehead, her fingertips skating over his brow before retreating. "But stop, okay?"

Kakashi had closed his eyes, entranced by both the feather-light caresses and the scent of her perfume emanating from the inside of her wrist. "How can you be so calm about this?" he asked. "I thought you didn't want to take this kind of risk."

Sakura sighed. "I didn't before."

"But now you're okay with it?" He sat up to face her, catching and holding her stare. "I want you to really think about this, Sakura."

"Kakashi…" She trailed off, her lips pursed thoughtfully. "Kakashi, if we tell ourselves again that we're just friends, I have to wonder what line we'll cross next time. I mean, if it hadn't been for those ANBU last night or Eiji at the hotel, what would have stopped us?"

That was an excellent (and enticing) question. All he had been concerned with at the hotel was pulling her even closer and the night before he had kissed her without a second thought—would have kept kissing her ANBU or no ANBU if he thought she would let him. He did his best not to dwell too hard on the implication that she wouldn't have stopped him either.

Sakura reached out to run her fingers through his hair again, her hand coming to rest at the back of his neck. "I don't know where this is going, but I'm willing to see it through if you are."

Kakashi stared back at her, letting his hand hook around one of her knees and pulling her subtly closer. "I wasn't kidding when I said you'd need to be patient."

"Not that you've ever required it before," she replied, smiling as her cheeks flushed a pretty pink. "We can just… do this our way, can't we? Figure things out as we go?"

He rubbed the smooth skin at the back of her knee gently as he nodded, slowly at first and then firmer as the idea settled and he raised his eyes to meet hers again. She was watching him with an expression torn somewhere between hope and hesitation and it reassured him a little to realize that they were in over their heads _together_. "I like that plan."

Sakura's smiled widened briefly, but then turned into something rather coyer as her hand migrated from his neck to his cheek where her finger hooked the edge of his mask. She closed her eyes and then tugged gently downwards. Kakashi smiled and tipped his head back to help her progress and then, when the fabric settled around his chin, turned his cheek into her hand and let his lips brush over her knuckles. She laughed quietly at this and beckoned him closer for a kiss.

He doubted if he'd ever tire of the privilege.

* * *

1. Bonjour mes amis!

2. All right, this chapter is shite on a cracker, but that's got more to do with how many times I've been forced to rewrite the damn thing a hundred billion times because it just was not coming out right. So, I apologize now for any excessive errors or large gaps in logic or general messiness. Let me know if there's something like really, really wrong. Like repeated lines or something. Seriously, this was like Dr. Frankenstein trying to bring his creature to life. Also, Kankuro is here because at least two people requested that he make an appearance and I do so love our crazy puppeteer. He'll probably be around for a better scene next chapter.

3. But back to the chapter: IT'S ALIVE! The relationship that is. And it only took 32 chapters. I know. I fail at a romance when it takes THIS long to get to the romance. I can only excuse this by saying that if I hadn't played around with so many of the other characters and side quests, we would've gotten here sooner. But we also would have had a whole lot less fun along the way.

4. My goal is to have this done by chapter 40, though. That's a bit of a downer, but I really don't have much material left to go over. Just a few things to explore, a few more points to make, etc.

5. I had some kind of really snarky point I wanted to make in these notes... Gosh, I can't remember it now.

6. Huh, well while note 5 tries to figure out what its point was, we'll move on. I just want to shoo everyone over to DA again and encourage you to join the community. I like talking to you guys and discussing things. It's a lot of fun.

7. Well, I still can't remember the really snarky point I wanted to make, but I did want to say this: As well as checking out the DA community, I encourage everyone to check out my favorites. Particularly a story I've recently fallen in love with (again) called Coercion by L. Pilz. Okay, yes it's Kisame/Sakura crack shut up it's awesome. Also check out the fics Persistent Heartbreak by Nara Taree and The Middle Ground by SkItZoFrEaK and really ANYTHING on that list because I do not favorite anything unless I've read it nine billion times.

8. Okay snark time! I've been on a weird television-watching kick lately and for some reason this involves a lot of specials about Big Foot. While I do not discount the fact that he could very well be out there roaming around and wondering what the fuss is about, I really don't like it when scientists get really pretentious and high brow and start saying that Big Foot is prehistoric man, like their insane and unvalidated claims are more true and less 100% bullshit than anyone else's. I like the shows where Billy Bob and his best friend Boomer have two head cams, a pack of trail mix, and more balls than a Dunham's Sports Store and they run out into the woods in search of a mythological beast. Okay, so I guess I just prefer it when people are just searching for BF out of genuine curiosity and wonder while scientists are just trying to kill one more mystery about the world at large. Also, Billy Bob and Boomer sound LESS retarded when they say that Big Foot attacked them than scientists do when they suggest that Billy Bob and Boomer were attacked by a Neanderthal. Think about it.

9. All right, the above note is probably tied with my rant about skirts for the "Most Random Thing To Appear In My ANs Ever" award.

10. "Just Say Yes" by Snow Patrol is one of the sweetest songs ever and one of the main themes for House Calls. (No, seriously. Go listen to it.)


	33. In Which There is Dreaded Filler

**House Calls  
**

**Chapter 33**

* * *

The longer she stayed at Kakashi's, the harder Sakura found it to pull herself away. It was rapidly approaching night before she even gave it much thought and smiled to herself at the realization that they had spent all day in bed _talking_. Talking about Naruto and Sai and Kankuro (him asking her for the millionth time if she was really, _really_ sure that she was okay). He asked her about Tsunade and things at the hospital (Shizune had a new beau she wouldn't talk about) and she wondered after Kurenai and Asuka (have you talked to her recently? We really should go for a visit). She edged hesitantly into a discussion on fuinjutsu and he smiled as he offered to teach her sometime if that's what she was angling for.

Ino would be aghast. This was how _old_ people dated, she'd snapped. It didn't matter that Sakura had dressed for the occasion or that she had touched on a little extra make-up. She probably wouldn't even get points for wearing her good underwear. This was boring and _blah_ and where was the sexy, juicy stuff already?

Yet, as she laid sprawled on her stomach and picking at the pilled fabric of Kakashi's shuriken-print duvet, she found that she just didn't care.

"I should go soon," she said at length.

He was lying on his side and facing her with one hand toying mindlessly with the row of buttons that ran a short length of her spine to hold her dress closed. "Yeah. All right."

A part of Sakura had half-hoped he'd argue, but wasn't surprise when he didn't; maybe was even a little grateful too. Her cheeks felt flushed and her skin was buzzing under a layer of goose bumps and she couldn't blame any of it on the heat of the day with the cool, evening breeze blowing through the opened bedroom windows.

"I apologize if this counts as our first date," Kakashi said as he sat up and swung both legs over the side of the bed. She was already out of bed and sliding into the sandals she had kicked off at the bedroom door. "It was boring."

She smiled again standing with one hand pressed against the doorjamb for support as she pulled her flat on with the other. "Hardly. It was perfect, especially after the day I had." She straightened, but let her weight lean against wall, her hands behind her back and her hair falling forward in messy tangles over her shoulders. "_I_ didn't bore _you_, did I?"

Kakashi's eye creased in amusement. "Very funny."

Sakura laughed and took advantage of the lightened atmosphere to step closer. "It's a legitimate question."

"Not when you're the young, beautiful one." Kakashi slid a hand tentatively over her hip as she drew close enough to stand between his knees. He smiled when he lifted his eyes to meet hers, which wasn't much of a feat considering that even this position didn't give her much of a height advantage. "What?"

"That's not an answer," she replied, crossing her arms.

He dismissed this easily with a shrug of his shoulders as his hands found her waist, smoothing over the fabric of her dress as they slid down. "Where are you staying tonight?"

Sakura faltered; distracted for a moment by the way his thumb was suddenly rubbing a circle into her hip. This worsened when his other hand tentatively came to rest at the back of her thigh, just above her knee. As someone who prided herself on a rather impressive amount of control when it came to the opposite sex (born from exposure to testosterone levels so high at times that they might be considered radioactive), it was strange to be even vaguely _turned on_ by something so completely innocuous. But it was okay, she told herself. He was her… boyfriend? Sweetheart? Gentleman friend?

"Ino's probably," she replied when she remembered quite suddenly that he had asked her something and that it might be a little early in the relationship to jump him. "I don't know yet. I think I'll go home and see what the damage is since I let the boys loose."

Kakashi nodded. "We'll meet for training tomorrow," he said. "You can take it out on them then."

Sakura laughed and, without thinking, leaned in to kiss him on the forehead. "Then, I'll see you tomorrow."

* * *

For Kakashi, this relationship would be a series of firsts. Sakura was the first person to give him butterflies and was now also the first person to kiss him on the forehead. The simple tenderness of the action was enough that if he had not already been in love with her, he likely would have been then.

* * *

Sakura stepped into her house to find that not only was it still in once piece, but unoccupied. Well, insofar that her teammates were nowhere to be seen. "Where are Naruto and Sai? I expected them to still be around."

"Ah, that blonde girl with the great rack dropped by looking for you and got stuck with them," Kankuro replied from the couch.

"You didn't want to go with?"

"Meh, I wasn't in the mood."

Sakura hummed in reply as she eyed him. He apparently hadn't been kidding about staying the night. He had showered and his paint was forgotten with his black outer-robes, leaving him in just a tank and bottoms. In the same way that Sai's tattoos had grown on her, his prosthetic wasn't as jarring as it had been on first sight, though it was still fascinating to see the amount of dexterity he had with it as he fiddled with the mechanism inside of another, wooden arm.

Sasori's arm to be exact.

"Do you have to do this in the living room? In _my_ living room?" Sakura asked with audible discomfort as she tried very, very hard not to notice the puppet's head on her coffee table, staring at her while his body was seated comfortably across the room in her not-so-favorite-at-the-moment armchair.

Kankuro glanced at her once and then did a double-take when he saw that she was staring pointedly at the ceiling. "For fuck's sake, sit down," he growled. "He ain't gonna bite you."

She scowled at him but edged around the couch and took a seat beside the puppeteer. He glanced between her and the puppet's head and then gestured with the screwdriver in his hand, pointing to one and then the other. "You two have already met, I think."

Sakura smacked him reflexively and reached out with her foot to push the coffee table further away from her. She hesitated a moment and then reached out again to carefully turn Sasori's head, so he was staring at the wall instead.

Kankuro scoffed. "I don't get it. I can't imagine the shit you see on a regular basis—you know, the stuff you put up with when you're _not_ elbow-deep in someone's _guts_—but he freaks you out? It's not even a real body!"

"He just gives me the creeps. I'm allowed my eccentricities," Sakura argued. After a pause she added, "How's your shoulder?"

"That's like your default thing, ain't it?" he asked with a brief sideways look before shaking his head. "It's fine. Those drugs you mixed up really did the trick."

Sakura stared at him for a long moment and without a word he sighed and laid his work down before offering his arm out for her to examine. Beaming, she leapt all over the invitation and turned to face him to better reach his shoulder.

"Sorry about earlier," Kankuro mumbled after a few minutes of silence had passed of him watching her glowing palms from the corner of his eye. "The vial just slipped, I swear."

"Forget it. I already have," she replied. "Besides, it's good that we have an emergency every once in a while to brush upon our evacuation drills. In fact, I get to yell at everyone tomorrow for behaving like startled cattle." She glanced up briefly to meet his eyes and grinned as she looked away. "You know, I wasn't going to tell anyone. I mean, we were both handling the toxin so it could have been either one of us and accidents do happen, even in Konoha labs."

He bared his teeth in a grin. "Thanks."

"Hey, if I screw up all I have to worry about is if my wallet can squeeze out enough for a bottle of good sake. You have Suna and Gaara to think of. If Konoha's alliances hinged on everything I did we'd be in _so_ much trouble."

Kankuro laughed aloud at that. "Right. I'm sure you make loads of enemies when you prance from village to village healing the sick and dying."

Sakura smacked him again, the back of her hand barely making contact with the side of his head.

He grinned, unapologetic. "So where were you all day?"

"Doing errands," she replied with an innocent shrug of her shoulders. "I hope you and the boys behaved yourselves."

"Of course we did. Your lack of trust wounds me deeply."

Sakura rolled her eyes and after a moment longer, pulled her hands back. "Looks fine," she said offhandedly. She scooted away so her back was pressed to the arm of the couch and then eyed him speculatively. "Why exactly did you decide to stay here?"

He shrugged. "Figured it'd be more comfortable. You don't mind, right?"

A smile pulled at her lips, the words translating easily in her mind. Comfort, for a ninja, had little to do with actual comfort and everything to do with safety. A small house in a residential district was an easier environment to secure and control than the always busy and labyrinthine hallways of the Tower. "It's a bit late to ask, isn't it?"

"Hey, better late than never," Kankuro shot back. "So?"

Sakura flapped a hand at him and got to her feet. "No, I don't mind. Just…" She made a face as she looked to the kitchen. "I get teams that drop by sometimes at night when they have wounded."

Kankuro scoffed as he pulled Sasori's arm and the screwdriver back to him with his chakra strings. "Believe me, I've slept through worse."

"_Yeah_," she drawled slowly a she wrung her hands. "ANBU teams sometimes too."

He raised an eyebrow at that. "Look at you moving up in the ranks," he said with a grin unfurling across his lips. "Way to go Haruno."

"I'm not ANBU," she said quickly. "I just treat them when they drop by, which usually involves taking their masks off, which breaks enough protocols when I see their faces—you get where I'm going with this right?"

"Yeah, yeah. Stay in my room or they'll cut out my spleen and swear me to a blood oath or something."

Sakura laughed. "Hey, be nice. I know some of those guys."

"See and you still let _him_ creep you out!" he protested, indicating Sasori's head on the table. He pitched forward, elbows on his knees, Sasori's arm in one hand with the palm upturned as if gesturing for the puppeteer. "I'm sorry, man. I've tried reasoning with her. She just won't listen, but you know how stubborn she is."

"Ugh, don't _talk_ to him!"

Kankuro cackled and tipped his head back against the couch to look at her. "Wanna see him talk back?"

"_No_!"

* * *

"Sakura been here?"

Kakashi glanced over at Pakkun, who had appeared at the foot of his bed. He had his kunai and shuriken spread around him, a whetstone in hand as he busied himself with some long overdue weapon maintenance. "Yeah."

Pakkun sniffed a few more times and then leaned forward to press his nose into the comforter. "Seems like she stayed for a while."

"She did."

"In your bed."

Kakashi sighed and looked again to the dog. "What are you fishing for?"

The pug stared at him impassively. "The boys and I like her a lot," he said finally as he stood and began sniffing around the comforter with a little more interest. "We want her to keep coming around."

"I think she plans to," the Copy-nin replied as he dragged the dull edge of a kunai against the stone. "I hope so anyway."

"What do you mean hope?"

He shrugged. "We're... I don't know what we're doing, actually." He paused, frowning thoughtfully as he passed the kunai over the stone again. That wasn't quite right. How did they go from being such good friends to someone so much more mysterious and undefined in such a short amount of time? It shouldn't be that hard.

Pakkun raised an eyebrow. "If she was in your bed, I got a couple guesses."

"It wasn't like that."

The Pug seemed to approve of this, although what business it was of his, Kakashi would never know.

"Hopefully Sakura's as wise to you as I think she is," the dog added at length as he sat down at the head of the bed.

Kakashi looked up at that, blinked at the wall, and then turned to the pug. "What are you talking about?" he asked. "And why exactly do you even have an opinion on this? I thought human relationships confused you."

Pakkun huffed, his jowls billowing as he did so. "They might, but I know _you_," he retorted. "If you find yourself too happy with the way things are, you'll sabotage it. Even if it is Sakura you'll chase her off or scare her away and you'll have all kinds of excuses for it. It's what you do."

The Copy-nin was frozen for a moment as the words and the truth in them registered. "I haven't pushed her _or_ the boys away yet."

"And no one's more surprised by that than me and the guys," the dog replied. "We've been waiting for it."

Kakashi lifted his eyes to stare at the dog for a moment, his lips turning down into a frown. He wasn't wrong and that was probably the worst part. Sakura had been exactly right when she had pointed out how hard it was to get close to him and it was hard because he made it that way. She and the boys slipping through his defenses was a fluke. It was impossible to live and fight alongside three people and not grow attached to them in some way.

Obviously with Sakura it was a bit more than just an attachment.

He loved her. It wasn't as hard to admit to himself as he had thought it would be. He was _in_ love with her. That was an even scarier thought, but it too came with strange easiness.

Then again, this wasn't at all what he had thought falling in love would be like. He had expected there to be more worry involved. He had enemies all over the world and his very person seemed to attract danger and tragedy like a magnet. As a child he had lost everyone he had ever loved and cared for in a few swift years and even as he aged it nagged at him. It was as if he was cursed. Whenever he reached out for someone, they disappeared.

But Sakura was still there and had been for years, so subversively slipping into his everyday life that it seemed even she was caught off guard by it.

Kakashi dragged the kunai against the stone again.

Sakura was the apprentice of the Godaime Hokage, a veteran of the Fourth War, and the girl responsible for outsmarting and then taking down Sasori. If he could trust anyone to take care of herself, it was the girl who could bring down a mountainside with her fist. If he could trust anyone to know what they wanted, it was the girl who fought for and pigheadedly pursued what she coveted without regard for what anyone might say about it. If he could trust anyone for any reason at all, it was her.

"You can keep waiting," he said finally, turning Pakkun's attention back to him just as the little dog was heading out the door.

"Why's that?"

Kakashi shrugged and swept the blade one last time against the stone before testing the sharpness against his thumb. "I'm not going to run away from this."

"You say that now."

"No. I mean it."

Pakkun stared at him for a prolonged moment before tipping his head to the side, curious. "You sure this is a good idea?"

The Copy-nin laughed and shrugged again. "Not at all."

* * *

Sakura stepped out of her bedroom from her evening shower and made a face torn somewhere between a smile and a grimace. Kankuro was sprawled out on her couch, snoring, clutching (presumably) one of Sasori's legs in a hand that was dangling off the couch (she checked to make sure he had both feet anyway, because he had already proven that he couldn't be trusted).

Satisfied to find that she wouldn't have to send him home bound in a straight jacket, she pulled the throw blanket off the back of the couch and tossed it over him before turning away.

In the kitchen, she put a pot of water onto boil, measured out some tea leaves into a strainer, and then took a seat at the table. Obito's medical file was already waiting for her next to a pad of notepaper that she had already nearly filled with theories and ideas. Tsunade would criticize the chaos contained on every page, where notes were written, scribbled out, written over, and then commented on in the margins with arrows drawn every which way to indicate what tied into what.

Fuinjutsu.

She leaned back in her chair, juggling her pen between her fingers.

Could a seal, properly designed and placed, prevent further damage from being done to the optic nerve? For that matter, could she seal the Sharingan? It'd be to Kakashi's benefit if there was some method of turning it off and putting an end to its constant feeding on his chakra that didn't require partially obscuring his vision.

She shook her head. Priorities, girl. Figure out how to stop the deterioration of the eye first and experiment later.

Sakura took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her head tipped back.

Sealing the pathway in such a way as to prevent the chakra that radiated from it from corroding the nerve was probably out of the question. The level of precision that would be required to do so without _blocking_ the channel was not only phenomenal, but with the Sharingan already in such a fragile state it was better to not risk having to undo anything and make a second attempt.

But if she sealed the nerve?

Theoretically that could protect the nerve from the high concentration of chakra coming from the piggybacking channel. It too would require precision, but it didn't present quite so many risks.

Sakura was jarred out of her reverie by the shriek of the teapot coming to a boil. She got up quickly to remove it and poured some of the steaming water into her cup and over the strainer. For a long moment, she stood at the counter, stirring the brew.

Kakashi would have a fit if he knew that she was still awake—still awake and still obsessing over those files, though not for the same reason as before. Before it had been about needing something to distract herself; something that would keep her mind off of her ever-changing feelings for him. Now it was entirely senseless, just like any other self-respecting irrational fixation.

Kakashi. Momentarily she found herself wondering if he was getting some sleep and a tiny and embarrassingly immature part of her hoped he wasn't, hoped that he was thinking about her and that it was keeping him awake. It would make her feel marginally less pathetic if it were true.

She sighed and scrubbed at her forehead.

A whole new can of worms, indeed. For one thing, she wasn't the kind of girl that ran around having secret relationships with her best friend/team leader/former teacher. It really wasn't as thrilling as much as it was just kind of absolutely nauseating. Cold dread swelled in her gut at the thought of screwing something up for them, because another and far more insane part of her earnestly and honestly hoped that this thing with Kakashi really would work and _last_.

By the First, she had thought herself free of that embarrassingly childish fantasy. Not to mention that she couldn't think of a quicker way to scare Kakashi off than letting that idea come to light.

Rubbing her eyes with one hand, she reached for her tea with the other and headed back to the table.

* * *

It probably wasn't smart to do so in the middle of an exercise—a three-on-two search and destroy game in the treetops outside of Konoha—but Sakura spent a good ten minutes on a branch examining the way Sai's snake tattoo had coiled around her forearm and blended itself to her skin. She ran a finger along its scales and it rippled in response, its coils tightening gently and then loosening as its tongue flickered and tickled the base of her hand.

She hummed as she poked at it a few more times. It seemed, and she could be wrong as this was only what she had inferred from the argument that had kicked this little game off, that Sai was her only ally here. Or rather, she was _his_ only ally in a fight against Kankuro and Naruto who had recruited Kakashi to help them, in which case it was sweet of him to spare her one of his snakes for her own use. (This was, on reflection, a sound tactical move. Sai's status as ex-ROOT and the flexibility of his power set lent him an extra edge in combat and they could use all the help they could get.)

"Yo."

Sakura smiled at the voice and looked up to find Kakashi standing on the branch in front of her. "So they saw fit to send the Copy-nin after me? Very flattering."

"Well, I volunteered and apparently you weren't their primary concern as there was an ugly dispute over breakfast that has the boys at each others' throats?" He looked to her expectantly for an answer.

She made a face. "_Yeah_. Sai made a dick joke, Naruto got angry, Kankuro laughed and made some reference that I'm sure would have made more sense if I knew more about the mating habits of sand salamanders, and Naruto started to spit and swear even though he probably didn't understand it any more than I did. Then Kankuro and Naruto started to joke about Sai's sexuality, which prompted Sai to question Kankuro's _relationship_ with Sasori and speculate how Naruto uses his clones when no one is looking. From there it went downhill."

"I was wondering. They didn't explain anything when they dragged me into it." Kakashi adjusted his gloves as he scanned the tree tops around them, the tomoe of his Sharingan whirling slowly. "How was your night?"

Sakura frowned at the way he kept squinting and reached out to cup his face in her hand, turning his eyes on her. "You mean to ask me how I slept," she said as she pushed chakra into his temple.

"If you did at all."

"I thought we discussed this."

"At length as I recall."

"Then I must have forgotten to mention the fact that I'm not only a skilled ninja but also a trained medical professional who understands her own limitations."

Kakashi shrugged as he let a hand lightly come to rest on her hip. "No, I remember that part."

Sakura scowled at him openly now and her hand dropped from his temple to join the other in grabbing fistfuls of his flak jacket. "So that skull really is just as thick as I've always imagined?" she demanded. "Hatake Kakashi, I am not—"

She stopped short when he gently tugged her closer, not quite pulling her against him, but bringing her close enough to make a point. Her heart jumped and sparks raced under her skin at the contact. Yeah, it'd be a while before she got used to that. "You are wildly intelligent, talented, and skilled and I have no doubt that you understand, far better than myself, your limits," he said. "But I am more than allowed to worry about you, as your friend and teammate and…" He paused, his brows furrowing briefly as the search for that last word tripped him up.

"I couldn't find a good word for it either," she replied and when he began to laugh, she gently smacked his shoulder. "Knock it off. I'm supposed to be annoyed with you."

Kakashi lifted his free hand to scratch at the back of his head. "I suppose we should put a name to this, shouldn't we?"

Sakura glared. "You're changing the subject, but since we're already off topic: we don't have to."

It was his turn to frown. "You're afraid that it'll scare me off."

She raised an eyebrow, surprised a little by the forthrightness of this reply—forthrightness never being something she expected from Kakashi. "Since you mentioned it, the thought did cross my mind, yes."

His eyes creased a little as a smile, small and ironic though it probably was, pulled at his lips. "I don't blame you, I guess. I've given you every reason in the world to think that, haven't I?"

Sakura took a breath and dropped her hands to his arms, rubbing gently and preparing to push away. It wasn't just Sai out there with them, but Naruto and Kankuro too and the conversation at hand was making her horribly nervous. "We don't have to talk about this now. In fact, we probably shouldn't."

"Our perimeter is currently secure."

She shot a glance around the surrounding treetops anyway. "I don't… this is still new for us. It was only yesterday that we agreed we'd stop pretending that everything is as it had always been." She risked meeting his eyes for just a second before looking away again. "We don't even really know what we're doing, do we? And I don't want to build up any… expectations. I don't have any."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her. "What a ringing vote of confidence."

Sakura scowled. "You know what I mean. We're only exclusive by default, unless you have some raging social life on the side I know nothing about, so it feels too soon to call you my boyfriend and I don't…" She shook her head. "Right now we're just… good friends exploring the possibility of adding a romantic facet to our relationship."

"I like you too. And I think they call that dating."

She wound up for a retort, but was cut off when Kakashi suddenly spun her around and locked one arm around her neck and the other around her waist to pin her arms. "Sorry," he whispered against her ear. "We'll finish talking about this later."

Before she could demand an explanation, Sakura heard the very familiar roar of Sai's shisa followed by a chorus of Naruto clones shouting an obscenity and the chattering of a puppet's movements. Deciding she couldn't stay if they were being overrun, she craned her head to meet Kakashi's stare and smiled apologetically. He had just one moment to shoot her a questioning look before she stomped her right foot and snapped the branch supporting them.

Kakashi let her go instinctively as he attempted to right his fall and she smiled in reply to the dirty look he shot her way when an ink-lined eagle spiraled toward them from above and caught her.

"Forgive the interruption," Sai called to her as he appeared at her right just when she cleared the tree canopy. He was standing on the back of another bird, looking no worse for wear as he monitored the fight below between his Shisa and Naruto's many copies. "I did try to keep them out of this area but they chased me your way hoping that Kakashi-senpai would be able to lend them aid."

Sakura grinned. "_They_ required aid?"

Sai replied only with a tiny quirk of his lips before his bird began to gain altitude and her mount automatically followed.

* * *

"So, I've been thinking…"

"That we should really quit abandoning the boys to their own devices?" Sakura chased this with a smile.

Kakashi smiled back, unable to resist. The medic was an absolute mess; her hair windblown and having slithered free of its tie, her clothes disheveled and grass-stained, and she was not glistening as much as she was outright sweating, with little rivulets running down her throat and temples.

And she was lovely as ever.

"You don't enjoy sneaking off with me?"

"I didn't say that." She batted her eyes ridiculously at him and then laughed at herself before asking, "So, what was on your mind?"

It was never to become public knowledge how much Hatake Kakashi liked it when Haruno Sakura flirted with him, even if she laughed at herself after the fact. Her unabashed lack of skill when it came to such things was, in the strangest way, kind of sexy.

Now he would just have to get used to the fact that he was _allowed_ to think that way about her.

"We should go out to dinner sometime. Together. Alone."

Sakura shot him a skeptical look. "How would this differ from any other evening where we go to dinner together alone?"

"It would be a date, of course."

She blinked at this, but recovered admirably well with a smile and shrug. "Oh, well of course. Silly me."

Kakashi just managed ignore the impulse he felt to reach out and take her hand. For the time they were alone on the path, but it was hard to tell who might pop up and inadvertently spot them. Still, it was hard to resist. He wasn't good with words or with saying what he meant, but something _had_ to be done. He didn't like the bad taste his conversation with Pakkun had left behind and the cagey way she had acted earlier when he had questioned what to call their relationship at present made him uneasy. She had seemed afraid that he would cut and run any second. "Unless that isn't how it works anymore," he offered, "It's been a while for me."

"No, no. I think dinner is still the standard practice." She was staring at him, her brows pinched together in concern and doubt. Nervously, she reached up to rake her fingers through her hair, which caught in the tangles. She huffed quietly and began to pull the tie out. "All right… well, maybe afterward we could go back to my place?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this. "And how would that differ from any other evening where we go back to your place after having dinner?"

"It would still be a date, of course."

"Ah," he breathed in relief. She was teasing him and that was always a good sign. "Of course."

Sakura nodded. "So, where should we have this dinner?"

"If we're attempting to keep a low profile, we should avoid anywhere that will seem unusual for us."

"Which actually limits us to Ichiraku, I think." She then abruptly paused mid-stride and rounded on him. She took a breath and then, when words failed her, huffed softly and narrowed her eyes again. "So… we're dating?"

Kakashi smiled, to himself as much as at her. "I suppose we are. Are you okay with that?"

She let out an incredulous little laugh. "Are you?"

"Yes."

Sakura stared at him for a moment longer, as if to make sure that he wasn't joking. At length she nodded, a smile pulling at her lips. "All right. Dating it is."

* * *

1.I'm BACK! ... AGAIN!

2. Though unfortunately NOT from outer space.

3. I apologize for it taking so long to get this chapter out and for how rushed it really kind of is no don't argue with me it is and I know you all think it's awesome but that's because you're terribly wonderful people and you all need to stop being so nice to me.

4. I blame the delay on a few things. Those few things being my nephew. Yes, at only a few months old he is more work than I could have possibly imagined a small child being. Especially one that is not my own and for whom I am not a primary caregiver. Also, I have a lot of other projects on the back burner.

5. Speaking of those projects: a short story for a contest, a screenplay for a feature length movie, a rewrite of a novel I started a long time ago, and about a dozen other Naruto fanfic ideas. No joke about that last one. As of late, I've been pondering the rather crack-like pairing of Neji and Sakura and I actually have an entire fic worked out for it. It would be more of the crap I do here: characterization, development, actual relationship-y things, averting and poking fun at the more obnoxious and prevalent devices in fanfiction.

6. Anyone on board? It would start with Sakura breaking Neji's hands and end with Hinata causing a riot. I shit you not. It would also involve Naruto as Hokage, Kakashi in forced retirement, considerable doses of Gai and Lee goodness, and a Redeemed!Sasuke, mostly because I am a terrible masochist and I want to try to do justice by a character I completely despise. Granted, I will be gouging out his pretty Uchiha eyes, removing everything ELSE that makes him a total twatmonkey, and warping canon considerably along the way (obviously), but who knows? It might be fun.

7. Oh but back to the fic at hand. It's strange how I was so much more comfortable with Sakura and Kakashi just flirting and now I'm not even entirely sure what to do with them. I guess it fits in a way, but because of this uncertainty I, say it with me, hate this chapter. What I was trying to get at is the fact that I don't think Kakashi would be okay with something as ambiguous as "friends who might be something more" and dating is as good of a definition as anything else for what they're doing.

8. Now for something completely different: me following up my bitching with some self... love? Dirty. Anyway. Who loves Kankuro as much as I do? Trick question. The answer is NO ONE. He is by far my favorite character in House Calls. One of my favorites in the series proper, yes, but definitely my favorite here. He's just so much fun to write and I love every opportunity I get to use him. If this wasn't Kaka/Saku, this would probably become Kankuro's One Man Show featuring puppetry, morbid humor, and a half a dozen poisoned lab rats for flavor. In other words: I really enjoyed his scene here, brief though it was.

End Notes.


	34. In Which There are First Dates and ANBU

**House Calls**

**Chapter 34**

* * *

"Maybe a butterfly."

"Maybe if she wasn't someone who can take down a mountain with a hissy fit."

Sakura bit back the urge to reply as she moved about the kitchen, making breakfast and ignoring the two artists at her table. This was her fault, she knew. She had stepped out in her scantest pair of shorts and one of her most threadbare tank tops in an attempt to fight off the already oppressive heat of the morning while forgetting that she had company. Sai, who had stayed the night and was allowing two new tattoos—a pair of shisa that stretched across his chest under his collar bones—to dry, remarked on Naruto's idea of giving Sakura a tattoo.

Kankuro, for many creepy reasons no doubt, loved the idea.

"Strength and delicacy are not mutually exclusive, which I believe Sakura-chan illustrates quite nicely."

"Maybe a dragon or something."

"I am awed by the creativity oozing from that notion."

"Oh fuck you. It'd be awesome and you know it. Besides, you two could match and wouldn't that just be precious? What about blossoms?"

"I liked that idea as well, but she has already vetoed it."

"Aw, yeah I guess I can see that, but a trail of them going down her hip would be sexy as hell." Kankuro paused and then shrugged, adding, "Easy to hide too; for professional reasons and stuff."

"Oh, well it's good that you're taking practicality into consideration here," Sakura butted in with a glare in the puppeteer's direction as she laid a plate of food on the table.

"Anything for you," he replied with a cheery salute.

She rolled her eyes and returned to the stove. "Where's Naruto?"

"I believe he had a meeting with Tsunade-sama this morning," Sai said and when Sakura returned to the table with another plate, he leaned forward to observe her with interest before looking to Kankuro. "Either a hip or across her back."

"Why her back?"

Sai shrugged as he spooned some rice porridge into a bowl. "She has an attractive back; well-sculpted and defined, but feminine. An appropriate design could easily compliment it."

Kankuro laughed. "Look at you being all heterosexual and _weird_. But hey I won't knock it before I try it. Sakura, turn around."

"No!"

"C'mon, quit being such a baby about this. Man up!"

She scowled and planted her hands on her hips. "I'm not here to be ogled. Especially not when I'm already cooking breakfast for you degenerates. Speaking of which, when are you leaving? I thought that this was just for a couple days and you've been here for almost a week."

"Hey, don't look at me. Gaara told me not to leave without a definite answer on that proposal and that old hag Hokage of yours is taking her sweet time coming to a conclusion about it. Anyway, back on topic: turn around. C'mon, it's purely for artistic purposes. You want your tattoo to look good, right?"

"I'm not getting a tattoo."

"Sure you are."

"_You_ get a tattoo."

"Hell no. Whenever _I_ engage in a little harmless body modification people freak out."

"Cutting off your arm is not harmless body modification! It's cutting off your damn arm!"

"I have to side with Sakura on that point."

All three heads swiveled around to look at Kakashi, who was leaning over the stove and checking the contents of the covered pots and pans.

Sakura smiled when she caught his eye and then casually delivered a sound smack to the back of Kankuro's head as he rocked back in his chair in an attempt to look at her from behind. "I didn't expect to see you this early. Did you need something?"

"Ah, no," Kakashi replied, replacing the lid on the pot of boiled eggs and then crinkling an eye as he leaned back against the cupboards. "I thought I'd just drop by."

She glanced at the clock. He was probably just getting back from the Cenotaph, which would mean that he had pulled himself away—something he couldn't even manage when he had an appointment with Tsunade-sama—to come see her. At once, she found herself fiercely trying to smother a delighted fluttering in her chest at the realization. "Do you want some breakfast?" she asked as she returned to the stove. "I have plenty. I mean, I was expecting Naruto to be around this morning but he had a meeting to get to."

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm all right. Maybe we can grab something later though, after we finish with that research."

She perked up at this and raised an eyebrow at him. He simply responded with a tip of his head and it made her purse her lips to hide her smile. Dating. Right. It had been a few days already since they had come to that particular agreement, but they had yet to go through with anything. Kankuro's presence was keeping her busy and Naruto was bothering Kakashi more frequently for spars as his diplomatic workload increased. It worked out really. She was trying hard to play it cool, to not be too eager or too clingy and distractions made that easier.

Sakura snapped from her own reverie and nodded. "Right. That sounds great."

"Seven?"

"Perfect."

Kankuro raised an eyebrow. "Is that code or are you two just always this weird?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You caught us," she deadpanned. "We're actually having a hot, sweaty love affair on the side."

Sai started and frowned at this, but Kakashi didn't react and Kankuro simply scoffed. "All right, no need to get all snippy. What kind of research? Anything I can take a look at?"

"Just studying fuinjutsu," Sakura explained. "Can't tell you anymore than that though, sorry."

The puppeteer grinned. "Nerdy covert ops. Hot."

She laughed at him, but caught the narrow look Kakashi shot the Suna-nin and found herself gaping slightly in disbelief. Was it jealousy or simple over-protectiveness? It was impossible to tell, but it necessitated another round of attempts to repress the excited fluttering near her heart.

This was cut short by the sound of someone knocking on the front door and Sakura gladly leapt all over the opportunity to escape the room.

It caught her off guard to see, upon stepping out of the kitchen into the living room, that it wasn't a courier (they were the only people who knocked anymore), but rather an ANBU operative in a bird mask. He was already standing inside to boot, the door still sealed and locked behind them. Without a word, the agent held a sealed scroll out to her.

"Demoted to letter-carrying?" Sakura wondered as she drew near and grabbed for the scroll.

The ANBU, however, didn't let go readily. "We would very much like an opportunity to examine the contents of this correspondence and question you on the nature of it, Haruno-san."

She raised an eyebrow at this, making sure to tighten her hold in reply. "Since Tsunade-sama knows very well what this letter contains, the fact that you brought it to me at all, and the fact that that was not an order but rather a request, I suspect that she isn't the one interested in the scroll and that you're not on orders from her."

The ANBU didn't even flinch. "You are correct."

"Then, if you would be so kind, let go."

Without protest, he removed his hand and dropped it back to his side.

Sakura shifted in place. The fact that she cared for people who were both in ANBU and retired from it did not change how incredibly unsettling the operatives were. The masks and the uncanny lack of personal mannerisms added up to such a pervasive sense of anonymity that she never quite felt like she was speaking to another person but rather a person-like automaton.

"And since you let yourself in I'm sure that you are more than capable of—"

The man vanished before she could finish, cutting her off with a whirlwind of leaves.

"You have such a way with people," Kakashi noted wryly from behind her.

Sakura turned toward him even as she kept her eyes trained on the front door, as if the operative had left through it. "What was that about?" she asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "Is that an answer from your pen pal in Kiri?"

She rolled the scroll over in her hands and nodded when she saw the seal. "Looks like it."

"There's your answer."

"My very cryptic answer," she replied, finally turning to look at him. "What does that mean? I'm not corresponding with an unallied village and Ao is the Mizukage's bodyguard. If I was going to be up to something I'd pick someone less conspicuous to conspire with."

"Allied or not, it takes more than a few years to erase decades of distrust," the Copy-nin replied with another shrug. "They're just being cautious. It's their job."

Sakura scoffed and made her way to her bedroom to put the scroll away in her desk, trying to hide her smile along the way when she realized that Kakashi was following her. "It's not any of their business. I'm not a part of their secret club, so they can't police what I do or who I talk to and they certainly can't ask for dibs on my private mail. Tsunade knows and that's all that matters."

"_Well_…"

She rounded on him, one eyebrow lifted and her urge to smile wilting. "_Well_ what?"

Kakashi pushed the door shut behind him. "The higher-ups really only have _your_ word that Tsunade-sama knows what's going on and they're not about to risk offending her by asking any questions because no matter what they do it'll look like they're accusing you of something unsavory. Their next best course of action is to address you directly, which they must feel they have a right to."

"In what universe?"

"You're a part of them. Peripherally." He lifted a placating hand when her face began to redden and elaborated, "You're privy to their business."

Sakura grit her teeth. "It's not like I'm in on _everything_ and I turned down Ibiki's offer. So, I know a few of the guys. Big deal."

"Their men still come here for treatment. You said they could."

"What does that—?"

"Sakura, why do you think you so rarely see operatives out and about in the village?" he asked, lifting an eyebrow at her. "There are rules of conduct in ANBU. When you're in uniform, it's a part of your job to keep to yourself and avoid interaction with other, outside parties. The hospital is one of the few places where those rules don't really matter for a number of reasons, but this isn't the hospital. You may have declined an official role in ANBU, but you're still involved. At least for as long as they still have men coming here."

The medic floundered for an appropriate response to this, but her mind was so flooded with thoughts that she couldn't pick just one to articulate. At first, she thought of Sai for no other reason than the fact that thinking of the more shadowy facets of ANBU always made her think of ROOT and that in turn made her realize why and just how much she really didn't trust the organization as a whole.

She cringed. That was probably it. That was what unsettled her, even more-so than the barely human demeanor of the operatives. They had proven themselves time and again more than capable of slipping by her, her locks, and her seals and she hadn't thought too much about it in the past because that was their job. But now? How often were they doing that sort of thing _without_ ultimately making her privy to it? She had no doubt that if they didn't want her to find out, she wouldn't.

In retrospect, it made sense why they gave even Kankuro the creeps.

Sakura raked a hand through her hair. Did Tsunade know that this would come up when she gave the operatives permission to receive treatment from her? Probably not. It was as Kakashi had said: questioning Sakura's trustworthiness was tantamount to questioning Tsunade's judgment and that just wasn't done, least of all by ANBU. No doubt the Hokage had assumed that vouching for Sakura automatically waived any surveillance the "higher-ups" might feel necessary.

Clearly, Tsunade had underestimated just how paranoid they were.

"Are you all right?"

Kakashi's hand on her arm grounded her abruptly; the familiarity and steadiness in the gesture putting her at ease in an instant. Sakura nodded and lifted her eyes to his, sparing a quick smile to reassure him. "What should I do about this?"

He shrugged. "You can always talk to Ibiki or Tsunade. Either one of them should be able to put an end to it."

"An end to the snooping and to the wounded," she murmured as she stared at the scroll in her hands and ran a thumb over the wax that sealed it shut. The thought alone made her a little nauseous. Their visits weren't an everyday thing, but those who were brought to her were always in critical condition, where minutes made all of the difference in the world to their chances of recovering.

What if it was someone she knew next time? What if it was Neji? She'd never be able to look at Hinata again. Or Yamato? What if it was Kakashi? According to him, no one ever officially retired and he was just as likely to end up on that cot as anyone else. It didn't matter that they might come anyway. She didn't want anyone hesitating, trying to decide between defying their orders and getting treatment.

She sighed, really regretting that things had gotten so complicated. What happened to only treating the stubborn and hospital-phobic?

"Sakura?"

Sakura forced a smile for him and shook her head. "I don't know. There's nothing in those letters to really hide from ANBU. If I show them, they'll get off my back and they won't do anything harsh like forbidding teams from coming to see me… except Ao will be even less cooperative if he finds out that someone is looking over my shoulder." She stomped her foot angrily (Kakashi noted with some trepidation that the floorboards groaned under the assault) and forcibly resisted the urge to throw herself on the floor and scream. "This is ridiculous! They're getting in my way!"

"Bureaucrats do that."

She scowled at him. "You're not helping."

He tipped his head at her. "Will you let me?"

Sakura was taken aback by this and raised her eyebrows. "Can you?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I might not have much to do with ANBU anymore, but I do try to keep in touch," he said. "If you don't want to talk to Tsunade-sama about this, I can talk to them directly. If they know that I'm involved, they might cut you some slack."

"Really?" She smiled and lunged forward, throwing her arms around his neck. "That's perfect! But… why can't they cut me slack anyway?" she asked, pulling away a little, one arm still around his neck. "I work directly under Tsunade-sama and they've never lost a man under my care. I was in the war, I fought the Akatsuki…"

The man mulled this over with a contemplative look ceiling-ward. "Well, it couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that you bribe your way out of hot water with Tsunade-sama or get her drunk to gain access to sealed documents," he replied speculatively and rubbed at his chin. "It also probably doesn't have anything to do with the fact that you've been rooting around in the Hyuuga vaults for information and then corresponding with someone with a Byakugan transplant or—"

"Okay, okay," Sakura cut in with a scowl, pushing him away a little. "I get it."

Kakashi nodded and then paused for a moment, regarding her oddly before asking, "Why don't you want to talk to Tsunade about this?"

She shrugged. "If I run to Tsunade and she lashes out at them, they won't be able prove that I'm being honest with her and it'll just look like I'm using my position to protect myself. That'll just make them more suspicious and they might not be so nice about delivering the letters they intercept next time. I mean…" She rolled her eyes. "I'll show them the damn letters if there is absolutely no other way they'll be happy. I don't _like_ that they think I'm any of their concern, but I don't want them to stop teams from coming to me. If that means I have to give up a little privacy, fine, and if it means Ao getting even stingier with his information, I'll just find another way to get the answers I want."

Sakura was boring a hole into the wall with her stare, pursing her lips in determination as she concluded. When she received no response, she snapped from her daze to look at Kakashi, who was watching her silently with an unreadable look in his eye.

"What?" she asked.

He huffed out a quiet laugh and shook his head. "Nothing." He rubbed at his neck and sheepishly lifted his gaze to meet hers again. "Mah, I guess this means we're not on for tonight?"

"Why wouldn't we be?" she asked, her voice dropping to a near whisper and her eyes darting to the bedroom door. She could still hear Sai and Kankuro talking in the kitchen, neither of them apparently too concerned by hers or Kakashi's prolonged absences.

"I know how you get when you have something new to work on," Kakashi said with a knowing smirk creeping into his tone. "It isn't easy to pull you away."

Sakura eyed him, a grin tugging at her mouth. "All right, smartass." She stepped forward and began pawing the scroll compartments of his flak jacket, finding an empty one and unbuttoning it. "You can hang onto this for me… which actually might be safer given how popular it seems to be at the moment. I'll look at it after our date."

She slid the scroll up into place and then snapped the closure before lifting her eyes to his. He was watching her with that same unreadable expression and it suddenly had her heart turning somersaults and her hands shaking a little as she fanned her fingers out across the material of his vest. This situation was not helped at all when he responded by letting one hand ghost up and then down the curve of her waist.

Over the last few days, he had been making it a point to touch her, letting a hand linger too long on her shoulder or occasionally and secretively touching her hand when he passed her by. The oddness was fading, leaving only the sparks and shivering behind.

Sakura had thought it'd take longer to get used to. After all, that's the only function 'dating' could really serve at this point. They already knew each other, were already privy to the other's quirks and pasts, so dating could only provide a means of adjusting to this new facet of their relationship. But the reality was that she was already reconciling with it and she really liked the way Kakashi touched her without hesitating. If she allowed her hopes and hormones to run away with her, it almost felt like he couldn't help it and that excited her more than it had any right to.

"Hey, don't worry about ANBU." His voice was suddenly right next to her ear and it took a second for her to realize that he had moved even closer. "I'll take care of it."

She laughed a little and let her forehead come to rest against his shoulder. "Actually, I wasn't thinking about that."

"What's on your mind then?"

Sakura turned her head to look down his arm at the hand on her waist and dragged her hand down his bicep and across the length of his forearm before moving back up. She wanted to say something, something alluring and flirtatious, but this was immediately quashed when she remembered Kankuro and Sai and knew that eventually they'd be missed. Oh well. It'd come out ridiculous anyway, she knew. Blunt honesty would have to do in its place. "You," she admitted with a quiet laugh.

There was a weighty pause before he responded and when he finally managed to, the only thing that came out was a quiet and thoughtful, "Oh."

Sakura stepped back to look at him and offered a small smile. "I'll see you at seven?"

Kakashi nodded, but didn't pull away. Instead, he lifted a hand and gently let his fingertips skate over her cheek in the barest of caresses that sent a hot rush straight through her.

"You keep looking at me like that," she murmured. "What are you thinking?"

The corner of his eye lifted in a slight smile. "Deep, existential things," he said dryly.

She laughed as she stepped around him toward the door. "Liar."

Sakura would never know about the way Kakashi nodded in agreement as he watched her walk away.

* * *

Kakashi vaguely remembered his father once telling him that he had won his mother over with sheer luck and it made him wonder, as he walked out of Ichiraku with Sakura around eight-thirty, if luck was hereditary. He hoped so, because it didn't seem to matter that he had known her for years. This definitely _felt_ like a date and it being his first (at least his first that didn't involve any ulterior motives or mission objectives), he felt like a clumsy, sweaty-palmed thirteen-year-old boy.

It didn't help that Sakura was very attractive, something that seemed to get more apparent every time he saw her (and something he now didn't have to pretend to scold himself for thinking afterward, which was a bonus). It wasn't even that she had dressed up. She was wearing one of the plain shifts he usually saw her in, white this time, with her hip pouch and thigh holster in place. But, instead of her typical boots, she wore a pair of strappy, stylish flats and she had only tied part of her hair back so the rest kept falling provocatively forward into her eyes. It wasn't intentional, as every now and then she pushed it back out of frustration, but it was enticing when she'd tip her head and a curtain of pink would obscure one eye.

Unaware of his wandering attention, Sakura chattered away, talking with her hands and smiling the whole while she walked beside him.

It was weird, he thought. Here was his closest friend and she seemed out of his league.

Dinner had been, over all, pretty typical for them. She talked about the hospital and Tsunade and then asked him to start in on her fuinjutsu lesson. What he had initially thought was a lapse in memory on her part—they were on a date, the last possible scenario in which he wanted to be reminded of his status as her ex-teacher—turned out to be a clever excuse to let her sit beside him and cross her legs in such a way that her foot kept inadvertently rubbing up and down his calf. This had been incredibly distracting to say the least.

"I'm sorry, I'm babbling."

"I like it when you babble," he replied automatically, snapping to attention in an instant.

Sakura looked at him doubtfully as she laughed. "You weren't even listening."

He smiled guitily at her and rubbed at the back of his head. "That doesn't make it any less true."

She rolled her eyes and purposefully knocked her shoulder into his arm, prompting him to reach out with his left hand and push her away. To this, she retaliated by grabbing his hand with her left and wrapping her right around his elbow, locking it in place. He looked down at her and their eyes met for just a second. She held his hand and squeezed, her fingers laced carefully between his and the delicate tips pressing into his palm. But it was only for a moment as the street was busy enough to present a risk. She dropped his hand quickly to fuss with her hair again while her other hand remained tucked into the crook of his elbow.

Kakashi swallowed and took a shaky breath.

The funniest part of it, he supposed, was the fact that Sakura wasn't comfortable with flirting. She wasn't good at it either… or at least not when she tried.

But there was something daring in that gesture, as innocent as it inherently was, and something equally alluring in her stare, in the way she had stared back at him. She kept insisting that she was as green at this as he was, but it didn't seem like she had to try to make his heart pound.

"Uh, Kakashi?"

He blinked. They had wandered into an emptier area on the outskirts of the training grounds where the road was walled by buildings on one side and exposed to an expanse of green grass on the other. "Hm?"

Sakura nodded to something ahead of them on the path and the flash of green spandex barely registered in Kakashi's mind before he instinctively made himself scarce.

* * *

For the record, Sakura had totally called that and she laughed to herself as she kept their original path, knowing that Kakashi would make his reappearance when he deemed it safe. She didn't blame him. As memorable as a first date including Gai challenging Kakashi to a "Longest Handstand" or "Who Can Drink the Most Hot Tea" competition would be, she wanted to get on with her evening and she didn't particularly feel like spending it nursing Kakashi's inevitable headache or singed mouth.

Although, the singed mouth thing would be an opportunity to test out a bizarre theory Ino had had once about a literal kiss of life—okay, focus girl.

Sakura shook herself free of her musings and smiled as she approached Tenten, lifting a hand in greeting when the girl glanced her way. She quickly did a double-take. "Finally!" the weapon's mistress cried. "Maybe you can talk sense into them."

Sakura quirked an eyebrow at this. "What's up?"

"_That_." Tenten pointed at Gai and Lee, who were casually conversing mid-handstands only a few yards away in the grass.

"Still not seeing the weird part," Sakura deadpanned.

"Lee's been like that for over a day now," the other girl elaborated. "He's trying to break Gai's record."

The medic blinked. "Like… a whole day?"

Tenten nodded, her eyebrows lifted for emphasize. "Thirty-two hours and counting. He trained like that today and slept like that last night."

Sakura blinked a few times. "_How_…? No. You know what? Never mind. How long has Gai been like that?"

"Oh, just for the last few hours."

Oh well if was only for a few hours. The pinkette sighed and glanced around. "Where's Neji?"

"They broke his will," Tenten sighed. "He talked reason until he was blue in the face and then jumped ship for a tea date with Hinata and Hanabi-chan. Do you want to give it a go?"

Sakura let out a hopeless little laugh and shrugged. "Yeah, I can try."

Gai noticed her approach first and righted himself immediately to pull her up against his side with one arm firmly latched around her. "Sakura-san! You are just in time! My beloved student is so very close!"

"To your record?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at the arm that braced her to his side and poking at his hand.

Despite the goofy, grinning, bellowing exterior, Gai was as much of a ninja as Kakashi and therefore was inherently not above sneaky, subversive acts of sabotage. No doubt he had come to know her as Tenten's backup when it came to killing joy and putting an end to youthful endeavors and this smelled strongly of an attempt to stop her. And since she wasn't willing to break his arm to get free—since she doubted that she could given that it was _Gai_—it seemed that he would succeed. Maybe she could let this slide. Thirty-six hours was absolutely _insane,_ yes, but it had to be over soon, right?

"Of course not! He is fourteen hours away from _halfway_ beating my record! This is a milestone that should be celebrated!"

The medic inside of Sakura quickly did the math and then threw herself to the proverbial ground in a screaming fit. One hundred hours. He was shooting for one hundred hours? She knew that Gai and Lee regularly put their bodies through incredible amounts of punishment that would kill anyone else who lacked their freaky super-humanness, but she couldn't reconcile herself with this.

"Gai-senpai, as a medical professional I really don't approve," she said. "I mean, I really, _really_ don't approve. Like, at all."

"Nonsense!"

"No, not nonsense!" Sakura paused to contemplate the grammar of this sentence and then shook her head. "He's risking a stroke doing this! A stroke, suffocation, vascular damage, damage to his—"

"Gai-sensei!" Tenten cut in, turning the man's attention on her. "I've decided that I want to try to break your record!"

Sakura's hair was just about blown out of its loose knot with the force of the wind Gai created as he darted away from her to joyously embrace Tenten, who threw her arms around his neck in return. She then gave Sakura a thumbs-up behind his head as he rambled about how inspiring her youthful determination was.

Sakura smiled back and approached Lee, pulling the tie out of her tangled hair as she neared and crouched in front of him. "Hello, Lee-kun."

"Loveliest Sakura-san!" He craned his head oddly to look up at her and strained out a smile. "I would love nothing more than to talk to you, but I am currently attempting—"

"Yes, I heard," she cut in as she reached forward and pressed two fingers to a straining muscle in his neck to check his pulse. "I know I must sound like a broken record and I'm always raining on your parade, but this is dangerous. I don't like it when you do this kind of stuff, Lee, and neither do Tenten or Neji. Do you know the kind of damage this can do? I mean, Kabuto was the last person to test what prolonged inversion did to a person so the information isn't all that up-to-date but I can't imagine it got any healthier since then." She poked the top of his shiny bowl cut with manicured fingertip. "I'm asking as your friend and as a medic, that you discontinue this particular exercise."

Lee looked torn. "I understand your concern, Sakura-san, and I do appreciate it! But—"

"Okay, tact two," the medic cut in again. "I'm _telling_ you to discontinue this particular exercise. Does that change anything?"

He made a face, which was made somewhat humorous by the fact that he was upside down and a peculiar shade of red. "The concern for the welfare of your comrades is truly touching, Sakura-san. I am especially honored that you are so worried for me, but I am determined to do this. I apologize."

Sakura sighed and nodded. "Then you leave me with only one option."

Before Lee could ask what that one option was, the girl turned, planting her hands on the ground, and brought the leg she had been supporting her weight on around to sweep his arms out from under him. Lee hit the ground on his back with a grunt and lay sprawled there and Sakura turned back to him and knelt at his side.

"Sakura-san!"

"I'm sorry, Lee, but I can't abide—"

"That was an excellently executed strike!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You're not mad?"

"Of course not!" he replied with an enthusiastic grin that began to fade. He forcefully blinked once and then twice.

"Seeing stars?" she wondered.

"A few."

She pressed two fingers to his neck again as she laid her other hand to his chest and then summoned chakra to both hands. "It's all that blood leveling out. Your blood pressure will start dropping pretty radically now. Just lay like this for a little while to let everything go back to normal while I check your vitals and your lungs and your brain and for the love of the First do you know how dangerous this is?"

"I unders_tngh_…"

Sakura narrowed her eyes as Lee's eyes crossed and then rolled back into his head.

"Did he just black-out out of self-defense?" Tenten sounded highly amused as she came to stand just behind Sakura, pitched forward with her hands on her thighs.

"Probably not, that's just a convenient bonus of good timing," the medic replied. "Just leave him like this for a while." She turned to look at Gai and pointed an accusing finger. "I mean it, Gai-senpai!"

Gai laughed at this, lightly and easily, which earned a dark look from both young women. "Of course, Sakura-san," he said, unusually placid as he lifted his hands in a placating show of surrender. "I wouldn't dare argue with that sort of assertiveness. A Jonin should always be willing to take action rather than just give orders while never following others' orders blindly."

Tenten blinked at this and rounded on the man too, her face reddening. "Gai-sensei! This had better not have been some sneaky way of springing a lesson on us!"

He smiled again. "To be fair, it was for all of you." He then beamed and lifted two thumbs up at the girl. "It gives you any comfort, Neji failed as well!"

Sakura just barely resisted the urge to check Tenten's blood pressure as the brunette's face turned purple. "_Gai_!" she fumed. "What if Sakura hadn't come along? When would you have sprung this little moral of the story on us? You heard Sakura! Lee could have been in a lot of trouble, you crazy old man!"

To Gai's credit, he simply smiled through this tirade and Sakura decided to use this opportunity to escape.

* * *

Kakashi ended up on a busy street a little south of the training grounds after running a block of rooftops to find Sakura. This was in vain. Damn. He had glanced away for just a second and lost track of her when she took off to avoid the skirmish between Tenten and Gai. He had to commend her timing. The fight had escalated to the use of scrolls and hails of shuriken not too long after her departure.

"Kaka-chan!"

The Copy-nin grunted as the wind was abruptly knocked out of him by curly-haired torpedo that barreled into him and then locked its arms around his middle. "Hey, Asuka-chan," he half-wheezed and laid a hand atop the girl's head. "What are you doing here?" He glanced around and frowned. "Alone. Without any supervision. _Alone_."

The girl grinned innocently as she scuffed the toe of her sandal in the dirt. "_Well_—"

"There you are!"

Asuka immediately took cover behind Kakashi's legs and, as a result, the familiar streak of shadow cutting through the crowd toward them promptly trapped the Copy-nin instead of the little girl.

Asuka giggled as she peeked out from around the Jonin. "Missed me!"

Shikamaru, who was now crouched in the middle of the street, smirked. "Oh?"

Kakashi heard toenails on the stone pavement behind him and then felt and smelled a waft of hot, doggy breath against the back of his head immediately afterward. This was soon followed by a protesting squeal from Asuka as Akamaru hooked his massive jaws around the very nape of her tunic and lifted her off the ground.

"Ha, good boy!" Kiba bellowed from above. A second later, he landed beside them. "You even snuck up on Kakashi-senpai!"

"It helped somewhat that I couldn't have reacted if I wanted to," Kakashi replied, his hands mimicking the way Shikamaru had hooked his thumbs in his belt loops as he approached. "Shikamaru, if you wouldn't mind."

The Nara genius shot him a small, apologetic grin as his shadow retreated. He then rounded on Asuka who was still dangling from Akamaru's mouth. "I told you a hundred times not to wander off because it's not a game! Sure, we're in Konoha, but that doesn't mean anything to your mom! She'd wring my neck!"

"Our necks," Kiba corrected.

Shikamaru went on, unabated. "And the next time you spring a genjutsu on me, I'll give you something to pout about."

This caught Kakashi's attention and he raised an eyebrow at the younger man as he lifted Asuka under the arms and pulled her away from Akamaru. To his very feeble annoyance, she immediately latched onto him. "She caught you in a genjutsu?"

"Yeah."

Kakashi shared a look with Asuka, who appeared very smug. "_She_ caught you in a genjutsu?"

"She manipulated the wind chimes in the market place to create it!" the Nara genius protested with no small amount of irritation. "I didn't know what was happening until she had already split."

Kiba was grinning behind his back. "It was as funny as it sounds, believe me." He knocked a fist against his friend's shoulder. "What'd I say? I told you that teaching her genjutsu, even just to kill some time, would come back to bite ya in the ass! And you bitch about me teaching her how to shoot beans out of her nose!"

"Kakashi!"

Ah, the cavalry. Kakashi turned to face Sakura as she appeared through the crowd. She looked immediately a little sheepish upon spotting Shikamaru and Kiba, who had both raised their eyebrows at her volume.

"Sensei," she added meekly.

Kakashi wanted to laugh. _Smooth_, Sakura.

She scowled, as if reading his mind, and opened her mouth to say something, but stopped abruptly to dodge around Kiba, who had appeared beside her with hopes of throwing an arm around her shoulders. This left him momentarily off-balance and groping at thin air while Sakura tutted him and wagged a finger in disapproval before spinning to face Kakashi, Asuka, and Shikamaru again. She smiled at the latter two. "Hey, Shika. Hey, Asuka-chan."

"Hi, Sakura-san!" the girl beamed back.

Shikamaru lifted a hand in a casual salute. "Hey."

"Oh sure, ignore me," Kiba huffed.

Kakashi felt some small bit of smug satisfaction when Sakura proceeded to do just that. "So you have Asuka-chan today?" she asked Shikamaru.

"We weren't supposed to," the genius grumbled. "Kurenai was needed for some in-village gig and she didn't expect to be home before morning, so Asuka was going to stay with Ino at the Yamanaka compound, but Ino had to work late at the greenhouse and dump her on us for the day. We were just on our way over there."

Sakura laughed when Asuka blew a raspberry at her surrogate uncle. "Good luck with that. I'd come with you just to say 'hi' to Ino, but I have a lot of things yet to do."

Asuka pulled herself upright to face Kakashi, grinning. "Will you come with us?"

"Mah, I have dishes to do," he replied tonelessly.

"That's a lie!" she scolded.

Kakashi smiled. "Yes, it is."

"Then why can't you come?"

"Because I have to bring him to Tsunade-sama," Sakura jumped in.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this when the medic turned to him and passed a quick wink his way that both Shikamaru and Kiba thankfully missed. He supposed he had to be grateful that she had spotted and taken her opportunity so readily. "_Right_," he said. "Tsunade-sama… I forgot all about that meeting."

"And we're all terribly shocked by that," Sakura replied before forcibly prying Asuka off of Kakashi and handing the girl over to Shikamaru. She then grabbed the Copy-nin by the arm and started to lead him away. "Well, we'd best not keep her waiting any longer. You know how cranky she gets! Bye guys! Say 'hi' to Ino for me!"

* * *

"Shika?"

"Hm?"

Asuka cocked her head at her surrogate uncle. "What does it mean when someone does this?"

Shikamaru leaned back a little when the girl, her mouth pursed with confusion and concentration, forcibly shut one eye while leaving the other comically wide in an attempt not to close it as well.

"I think you should have asked Sakura," he replied, chuckling softly, "because it looks like you're having a seizure."

* * *

"So this was a disaster," Sakura said as Kakashi took her hand and pulled her up over the ledge of the cliff. They had retreated, as fast as they could, to the Hokage's monument with hopes that no one would find them there and interrupt them again.

"Not entirely, but we clearly can't go on another date _inside_ the village walls," Kakashi replied as he lowered himself to sit on the stone near the ledge.

Sakura followed and only somewhat intentionally landed a little too close to him so that her side was pressed to his. She tried hard not to preen when he took the opportunity to wrap and arm around her waist. "Maybe we'll just have lunch by the lake next time?" she suggested.

"Fine by me." He glanced over at her and then away, back down to the village. "So, what are the odds that we'll be able to go to your place later?"

"Slim," she replied and then made a face. "I guess I should have reminded you before about Kankuro."

"Why didn't you?"

Sakura laughed at herself and shrugged. "I guess I was just looking forward to tonight so much that I forgot all about the Suna invasion of my house."

It felt lame coming out, but the way he pulled her closer and then let his hand run down and then up her side immediately abated this worry.

She smiled to herself and leaned more comfortably into him. It always surprised her how little he actually had to say to make her feel better and for that she had to give him credit. No one would ever accuse him of being good with words, but he didn't have to be, which was very fortunate for him, and she had always preferred quiet ones.

Sakura leaned her head back to rest against his shoulder and began to frown when something about his shirtsleeve caught her attention.

No pilling.

Picking at the lint and all of the loose threads usually dangling from his clothes had become something of a compulsive habit of hers and there was not a flaw in sight.

As inconspicuously as she could, she inspected the leg of his trousers, using the excuse of draping an arm over his knee.

New.

Sakura smiled openly to herself.

Kakashi tended to wear his clothes to death—quite literally when it came to his shirts and vests that were lost to combat or to her own hands when she was forced to cut through them to get to his wounds. So, in a very strange, very particularly Kakashi way, he had dressed up for her.

"So, how bad was the date?" he wondered aloud. "I mean, on a scale of one to ten."

Sakura was jarred from her reverie and laughed out of surprise as she looked up at Kakashi, who was watching her with a good-humored gleam in his eye. She smiled even wider and a peculiar warmth ignited in her gut and spread through her to her toes and fingertips. This was right. Being with him like this, having his arm around her, felt like a natural extension of the bond they already shared.

"The date itself? Pretty bad," she replied, receiving a quiet chuckle in reply. "But I think the company made up for it."

He grinned to himself and vaguely she wondered if it looked as boyish as it seemed it should when he did that. "Agreed." He looked to her finally and tipped his head. "So, is this our first or second date?"

"I don't know. Did our day at the lake count as a date?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at this and looked upwards in thought. "It could. We didn't really have anything settled then, though."

Sakura tipped her head. "Hm, true, but if you think that spending the day at your apartment was too boring for a first or second date, we could retroactively count the day at the lake as our first and today as our second."

He spared her a suspicious look. "You're not just humoring me are you? Telling me that you enjoy all of these things when in reality you're dying of boredom?"

"Kakashi, I spend most nights either curled up with a medical text or sopping blood up off my kitchen floor," she laughed. "If I ever gave you the impression that I'm someone who yearns for excitement, I apologize. I like being with you." Her hand slid over one of his as her smile gentled. "I like you. A lot."

The man watched her for a long moment, the suspicious gleam long having given away to something warmer and another grin. (It was really amazing what she could read from just the creasing of his eye.) "I like you too."

Sakura didn't quash the fluttering in her gut quickly enough to stop herself from leaning up to kiss him. The fabric of his mask chafed a little when he reciprocated, but she just barely noticed. She pulled away and spared him a smile before hauling herself to her feet and offering him a hand to help him up. "I want to walk for a bit longer before it gets dark."

"Mah, you're going to wear this old man out," Kakashi scolded as he took her hand and stood.

"Well, if you get too tired let me know and I'll carry you back."

He reached around to pinch her, but she quickly blocked him and then danced away.

"Too slow," she teased, making sure to keep a consistent number of paces between them as he approached. "I—"

She never finished. He vanished in a blur of movement and an instant later she did too.

* * *

"Sorry."

Kakashi shrugged as Sakura fingered a fresh slice in the sleeve of his shirt where kunai had caught the cloth near his elbow. "It's not the first," he said. He was carrying his flak jacket over his right shoulder and feeling more relaxed than he had at the start of the date, which likely had everything to do with the very not-date-like spar they had gotten into on the Hokage's monument.

Sakura smiled sheepishly as they entered the breezeway at the rear of her house, mud and dried leaves crunching under their shoes as they navigated their way through the room to the steps of the backdoor into the kitchen. The only light coming in was some combination of moonlight and the glow of porch lights from neighboring houses. Even then, her features were hard to make out in the dark. "Still, it was new and everything."

"So you noticed?"

He was inordinately pleased by that and Sakura smiled back. "How couldn't I? You're always dressed like a scarecrow."

Kakashi responded to this in a reasonable adult fashion by swatting her on the backside when she preceded him up the back steps to the kitchen door. Sakura slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her quiet yelp of surprise and the burst of giggles that followed, before turning around to return fire by finding one of his bare forearms in the dark and pinching him none-too-gently in return.

He locked the same arm around her middle and stepped up to stand with her on the narrow tread just outside the kitchen door. Her back rattled the hinges as she leaned back against the door and for a moment he wondered if he was crowding her until her arms were suddenly around his neck and drawing him that much closer. Suddenly, crowding her was the best idea he had ever had.

"Doesn't sound like anyone's inside," he whispered. "Kankuro would have come to check out that noise if he was back and if _Sai_ were around, he'd already be trying to convince him that it was just the wind."

Sakura grinned lamely. "I meant to mention that he knows."

"It was a little obvious," he said. "He's acting more suspicious than us and I can't decide if that's a good or a bad thing. But, I suppose that no one is going to call Sai out on behaving strangely."

"Exactly."

"So, you told him?"

She shrugged. "I didn't have to. He figured it out on his own. Well, mostly." Her arms tightened around him. "So, I'd like to invite you in, but…"

"Ambassadors have curfews," Kakashi finished, but he kept her resolutely held against him. She was warm and soft and smelled vaguely of herbs rather than perfume and it would be a damn shame to let go before he absolutely had to. "It won't be long before your houseguest returns."

Sakura nodded and turned her head to press her nose to a tender spot under his jaw, where she nuzzled him. "It's too bad," she murmured. "I could use the company tonight while I work."

It was an innocent offer, but Kakashi found himself stamping down the urge to read into it anyway (which amusingly forced him to drop his vest and catch his balance with one hand against the door behind her).

If there was one thing that had become clear to him over the course of the night it was the fact that Sakura had _no_ idea what she could really do to a man. Or to him, at least. For someone who thought of herself as inept when it came to things like seduction, she had his mind racing all night with the things she said. Even when she made a transparent effort to flirt and ended up just laughing at herself for it, he was enticed.

Maybe he was really just that disenchanted by the years of knowing women who purposefully worked their sexuality to get what they wanted. Gods knew the ninja world was full of them—it was a classic in the kunoichi arsenal of tricks—and he had met and worked with more than a few who possessed such particular talents in his career. For the longest time it had even been encouraged. It was often the simplest way to get someone out of the way and no matter how persistent stories of deadly seductresses were, supposedly intelligent and savvy men consistently fell to the trick. It fell out of fashion with the advent of bingo books, to the extent that kunoichi were never explicitly told to utilize such means but in passing by older kunoichi giving them advice when it came to last-ditch efforts. (Although, he was pretty sure it just wasn't done anymore by Konoha kunoichi. Kurenai was infamous for one instance of outright castrating someone while Anko had reportedly done things to men that had once given _him_ nightmares.)

"What are you thinking about?"

"Snakes and places where they don't belong," he groaned before dropping his head to her shoulder and taking a breath.

Either out of surprise or genuine amusement, Sakura laughed aloud at this and began stroking the hair at the back of his neck with just the tips of her fingers. "Why?"

"You don't want to know. Distract me."

She laughed again, shaking in his hold. "With?" she wondered mirthfully.

"_Anything_."

Sakura quietly mulled this for a moment and then he felt her breath against his ear followed by a gentle nip at the tender cartilage followed by a kiss and then a quick swipe of her tongue. "How am I doing?"

Kakashi found himself contemplating the bare skin of her shoulder where the sleeve of her shift had slumped off down her arm. "Mission accomplished."

She laughed and bit him again, none too gently this time, which didn't stop it from sending a white-hot bolt of arousal through him. "Just kiss me good night and get out of—"

He didn't let her finish. He had his mask down and one hand in her hair before even _he_ realized how much he had wanted her to say that.

He liked the fact that she didn't try to manipulate him with all of those subtle mind games women seemed to think necessary when it came to men. In fact, he knew Sakura as someone who was upfront about what she wanted and he had never admired that more than he did right then. She was straight-forward, he thought as he pulled her closer and slanted his mouth more fully against hers. He liked that a lot—the straight-forward thing, at least. Well, and the kiss, obviously… and the way it felt when she molded herself against him, which incidentally made him grateful that he had taken off his vest earlier.

They parted for a second and Sakura seemed prepared to say something, but was willing to settle for letting him kiss her again as he pressed her up against the door.

Kakashi wondered vaguely if this was supposed to be strange, because it wasn't. If he was supposed to feel guilty for touching her like this or wondering why he hadn't had the foresight to invite her back to his apartment instead, he didn't. And when she opened her mouth against his and made a quiet sound in the back of her throat, those thoughts became very distant, very irrelevant things very quickly.

He wanted her and he couldn't remember the last time he had honestly felt that way.

Reluctantly, he let her pull away and took a quick breath. "What were you saying?" he wondered.

"I was telling you to get out," she replied.

He would have rolled his eyes at this—of course a kiss couldn't distract a woman who regularly put people back together while under enemy fire—if he had not been so pleased by how breathless she sounded. "Ah. Will I see you tomorrow?"

"Probably not. If Kankuro can't leave until he reaches a negotiation with Tsunade, I'll have to spend tomorrow plying her with booze and helping him just to get my guest room back." She paused. "And then I might have to hunt Shika down to translate that scroll. And while I'm at it, maybe I'll do everything else that gets ANBU's hackles up, too."

Kakashi chuckled and Sakura smiled as she reached out, tapping a hand against his chest to get a feel of where he was in the dark and then dragging it up to his cheek where her thumb stroked over the crest of the bone there. "Which reminds me, _you_ still have my scroll."

He rolled his eyes and bent to grab his vest. He shrugged it on and Sakura took the opportunity to paw at the compartments to the best of her ability to dark before finally locating the correct one and unfastening the closure, letting the scroll fall into her waiting hand.

"Promise me, you'll get some slee—"

Sakura cut him off with a kiss, which he didn't mind so much. At all. Especially not with the way she lifted one hand to curl her fingers in his hair or the way she tipped her head to angle her mouth against his. The sound he made in response might have embarrassed him if it hadn't prompted Sakura to pull him close again, one of her arms around his waist now and clutching at his back under his vest.

Amused, he realized that they were making out like teenagers and he couldn't remember the last time he had done that either.

(It would occur to him later that Sakura, at nineteen, was technically still a teenager but the very fact that he had to remind himself that she was spoke volumes for her maturity and how very much this relationship had nothing to do with him just being a perverted old man hot for a younger woman.)

"Get some sleep," he said sternly when they parted again.

Sakura pouted and made a noncommittal noise in response.

Kakashi smiled, satisfied by this, and slid his mask carefully back into place (because if she kissed him again there was a distinct possibility that Kankuro would walk in on them and in on something possibly more interesting than a kiss).

"Good night."

Sakura smiled. "Good night."

He stepped down, but turned to look at her again. She was watching him in turn and without him in front of her to block the light, a stray ray cast just enough of a glow on her to illuminate the brilliant smile on her face that did all kinds of things to him on the inside.

Taking a breath and knowing right then that he was in serious trouble if he stayed much longer, he flipped a lazy salute and vanished in a whirlwind of leaves.

As much as he had enjoyed his persistent dreams of simply coming home to find her sleeping in his bed, he doubted if they would be so innocent ever again.

* * *

The second Kakashi was gone Sakura slapped both hands over her mouth to silence the delighted and embarrassing falsetto squeal she found herself unable to otherwise suppress.

She had to wrack her brain for the last time she had felt so feminine, so sexy and so _wanted_. That last one renewed the flush across her cheeks and down her neck and she had to take a breath to steady herself. For the first time in a very long time, she was thinking about sex and not in the frame of mind of a medical professional, but as a woman who had wanted to drag a man she loved into her house and tear his shirt off.

Sakura pressed her hands even more firmly to her mouth to silence her giggle.

She was honestly and truly over the moon happy right then and nothing, not even the highly suspicious and just barely-there sounds of movement coming from inside the house would ruin that for her.

The medic carefully toed her sandals off and hitched up her dress to tuck the scroll away under the band of her thigh holster.

If they hadn't come to check why the door had rattled, it wasn't Kankuro or Sai or even Naruto or anyone else in her life or anyone searching for a medic. If they were walking around, they weren't wounded. If they hadn't fled at the noise, they were colossally stupid.

Sakura lifted her hands to form a seal and in a blink reappeared inside, circumventing the door. Without her sandals, her approach across the tiled, kitchen floor was absolutely silent.

And if Kakashi hadn't heard them, it was ANBU.

It didn't surprise her when she reached her opened bedroom door and peered around the jamb to see the desk lamp on and a figure wearing a porcelain mask sifting through her files—politely, to his credit, as he was making sure to keep them orderly.

"Can I help you?"

Also to his credit, the agent didn't drop the files or even react really besides straightening and turning to face her.

No response.

"Are you injured?" she asked.

She caught the barest and slightest of shifts in his shoulders and that was her only answer.

Sakura smiled sweetly and then balled up one fist as she summoned her chakra, her knuckles cracking as she clenched her fingers. "Put the papers down and get. Out."

The agent obliged immediately and without protest, disappearing with a cloud of smoke.

She stood still in the doorway for a long moment as she mulled this over. She was not happy. _Not_. Happy. But she pushed aside her mounting anger by summoning to mind the feel of Kakashi's lips against her own and remembering his earlier reassurance that he would take care of this particular problem, which made her smile again.

Now quite cheerful again, Sakura gathered the files she needed from her desk and returned to the kitchen to put the kettle on.

* * *

1. Okay, so first things first: HI! Next: Final word count on this chapter: 10,761. WHEW!

2. I had a random, amusing thought a long time ago when I found myself using a lot of parenthetical sentences in this that almost sounded like mid-chapter author asides and that thought occurred to me again while writing this chapter which contains a few of those same asides: Sakura kicking down one of my walls Raikage style and telling me to quit leaning up against the Fourth Wall like some loitering, public nuisance. Then we had tea.

3. Chapter wise: I actually don't hate this one. I know, RIGHT? I mean, I hate parts of it sure and it might just be the relief of finally having the damn thing DONE, but I don't hate ALL of it.

4. Although I do feel the need to justify a lot of things. First of all, I know that we spend a lot more time with side characters on Kakashi's and Sakura's date than we actually spend with Kakashi and Sakura and my best way to justify this is thusly: 1. I feel that the chapters lately have been lacking in humor and I really wanted to lighten things up. 2. Sakura alone has such a large circle of friends and acquaintances that it would be pretty damn hard for her to go anywhere without getting pulled aside. Also, no one is going to suspect that they're on a date and think that they're interrupting because Kakashi and Sakura are always together anyway. 3. How do you think Kakashi and Sakura feel?

5. I tried to do as much research on prolonged inversion as I could and all I really know is that the stroke/high blood pressure thing is for realz. I don't know if Lee would really pass out once he laid down flat, but it worked for the scene and technically that much time of prolonged inversion would likely have killed you. (Even that one magician dude who tried that stunt a few years ago whose name I cannot remember at the moment, didn't remain inverted for the full 60 hours he was shooting for. Every hour he stood upright for several minutes to give himself a breather.)

6. The ANBU thing sort of snuck up on me and I don't know how crazy I am about it, but it came to me and I decided to roll with it. I figured it made sense to have ANBU keeping an eye on Sakura (I have tried to mention before that they've been keeping tabs on her) because of her involvement with their agents returning from missions. There are some parts of it that probably don't make a lot of sense, I'll try to fix those as everything comes into sharper focus for me. I am quite literally writing by the seat of my pants here.

7. Or skirt, as it were.

8. THERE! Are you happy? I actually mentioned SEX and they kissed without anyone interrupting them! REJOICE! For anyone who might object that they wouldn't be all over each other after a first date, I'll remind you that it's not their first date and they're not two strangers who have just met and have been out together a few times. They already have a deep-seated bond, they're already in love (even if it hasn't been said), and who doesn't like a smooching scene?

9. For those of you who want drama, there is some scheduled. Likely next chapter, which brings me to...

10. From here on out chapters are going to probably be quite a bit longer and covering one major thing in their lives and as many little things as I can fit in edgewise. This is because I really do want to finish this before chapter 40 and I am getting quite fatigued with this story. As much as I've loved writing it and as much as I love you guys, I really want to get this done and move onto other things.

11. SUCH AS MY NEW FIC! It's called Blind Spots and it is the previously promised Neji/Sakura fic. It probably won't be updated very frequently until I finish up House Calls, which might take a while given how many other projects I have going on right now, but by all means, check it out! (And for as crack as my previous summary sounded, it isn't nearly as campy or crazy as one might think. This will be a deep, character-driven fic with an overall dark tone than House Calls. Think of House Calls as the delicious, lightly whipped vanilla frosting on top of a cupcake made of clouds and of Blind Spots as cheesecake-heavier, but still satisfying.)

12: Ninja-edit'd (I do this far more than you guys can imagine): It is my birthday in three days (8/17)! I'm saying this more out of the fact that I like to behave like an obnoxious ten-year-old when it comes to my birthday and tell everyone and then I go out and buy things like antique teacups for my grandmother. Anyhoodle, for you guys I think I'll try to have either a one-shot up by then or another chapter in Blind Spots, or something. No promises, but I'll try.

**(Reviews make me glad,**

**Like sunshine on a clear day,**

**So please leave one, 'kay?)**


	35. In Which We Spit It Out

**House Calls**

**Chapter 35**

* * *

Sakura's ANBU problem persisted. Or, she thought it did. It could have been paranoia by this point. It and hyperawareness were close relations, after all. She had people in an out all hours of the day without her knowledge and things were bound to get shuffled around. All she had was speculation.

Well, that and the fact that ANBU wasn't being _nearly_ so discreet since Ao's last letter, which had started making those trade demands that Tsunade had warned her about. The spooks had found out about it—not surprising—and they were less than pleased—also not surprising. The heads—whoever they were and may they find themselves ass-first in a bush of poisonous ivy—were vehemently protesting any exchange of information. It was the opening they had needed, but she suspected that they were still spying on her.

There were no words for how much Sakura hated the fact that her only option was to just go along with it lest she look (even more) suspicious.

In the mean time, Tsunade had finally consented to Gaara's requests and Kankuro had gone home. Without him around to distract her, Sakura focused on her study of fuinjutsu (which conveniently let her spend time focusing on Kakashi, which was not always conducive to studying anything at all) and sparring with the boys to keep herself from thinking too hard about the might-be snoops rummaging through her personal affects. If asked, she'd insist that it was entirely coincidental that for the last week Pakkun and Bull were almost constantly present in her house. Entirely.

"You're making me dizzy. Sit down."

Sakura shot Kakashi a dark look. "What's taking them so long?" she demanded. "It's been a month."

He sighed. He was on the sofa, slouched and watching her pace his apartment with a weary look on his face. His vest and sweater were missing, leaving him in his masked undershirt and sweats. "I don't know, Sakura. Please sit down and try to relax a little."

She shook her head. "I thought you were going to talk to them."

"I did," the Copy-nin insisted. "I said my piece and they told me that they'd take it into consideration." He glanced at her. "I didn't make any promises that they _would_ listen to me."

"I know," she replied, waving his words off with a smile. "You did what you could. I appreciate that. I just… I don't know what's taking them so long. Ao is going to get suspicious and think that something's wrong."

Kakashi shook his head. "He'd be more suspicious if you got back to him right away. He might not expect ANBU to be peeking over your shoulder, but he knows that if you're the good little Konoha-nin you say you are, this will have to go through the proper channels. Trading information is touchy business and he knows that if you get back with him too soon it's probably a trap."

Sakura sighed. "I don't see what the problem is. He wants a few ancient documents." She scoffed. "What does it matter?"

"Those documents are about Kiri-nin that Konoha took as prisoners of war," Kakashi replied, scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. "Only the gods know what he wants with them and they're not exactly going to make diplomatic relations with Kiri _easier_ than they have been. But that probably isn't even the problem. Didn't he ask for _your_ file too?"

Sakura waved a hand. "I've read my file—" This earned a raised eyebrow from the man—"It's boring. Maybe he wants to use it as a sleep aid."

"He wants to read up on you," Kakashi corrected. "Since you're an active ninja of Konoha, you'll be added to their intelligence—your techniques, your abilities. It isn't a good thing."

"We're allies."

"That doesn't mean much."

She heaved sigh. "If it's really that tenuous then what's the point?" she asked. "I need information from him _about_ him. Isn't it a fair trade if I give him information about me?"

Kakashi gave her a bland look. "ANBU doesn't _want_ a fair trade, Sakura. They want to acquire information without giving information—the very precept of ANBU, in a way. Come sit."

"You've said that three times and it won't work now any better than it did before," she scolded.

"I'm a determined man."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "It was neat of them to leap on the information trade as an excuse to interfere. They're not accusing me of anything directly, but they can still kill the trade and get their way. Did I tell you that I found one of them snooping in my bedroom?"

"About six times."

She spared him an apologetic look. "I'm boring you."

Kakashi smiled faintly. "No, but you are kind of annoying me. You would have used physical force by now to pin me on this couch if you had asked me three times to sit down."

Sakura rolled her eyes, even as a smile pulled at her mouth, and approached him. With no ceremony, she dropped onto the couch so that her legs were straddling his hips and she was poised in his lap. "Happy?" she wondered, sitting back on his knees.

Kakashi's eyebrows were nearly touching his hairline as he stared back at her, apparently caught off-guard. "Extremely."

She laughed, but sobered as she traced the jut of his clothed collarbone with her fingertips. "They should know that the harder they make this, the more they'll annoy me and the more hell-bent I'll be on getting my way," she murmured. "Did you tell them that?"

"No, but you had best take them by surprise anyway," he replied. He had one hand resting lightly on the outside her right thigh. He tipped his head a little and dragged his palm up to the hem of her shorts and then back down, the roughness of his calluses gently scraping against her smooth, unblemished skin. "Have you heard anything from Tsunade-sama?"

Sakura suspected that he was trying to distract her. She also suspected that it was working, but hell if she was going to tell _him_ that. "She said she'd fight the good fight for me, but that was five weeks ago and she's not had any news for me since."

"These things take time," he replied with a shrug.

Sakura sighed. "Well, _I'm_ a determined woman." She slid off of him and onto the cushion on his right, rearranging her legs to drape them over his lap as she folded her arms around herself and let her head sink into the cushioned back of the couch. "If they stop me here, I'll just find another way. I don't know _how_, but I will."

"Then why are you so worked up?"

"They're wasting my time!"

Kakashi hummed back at her and watched her lazily as she sat and fumed. "Would pacing make you feel better?"

She laughed quietly and looked gratefully up at him. While his Sharingan was closed, his other eye was sleepily half-open and she found herself almost fawning over how it changed him. He was so relaxed with her, so not the Kakashi she accustomed to on jobs or around others.

The call for missions was slowing down as the beginnings of winter began to ravage the north and make travel in the deserts of Wind Country near impossible. The days were still bearable yet in Fire, but even then there was a distinct chill creeping into the air. All of these conditions gave them time together. Even the handful of times that she had been called to an outpost to provide aid—a more frequent occurrence in the colder months than in the summer when travelling with wounded was easier—Kakashi had joined her and made an effort to be an extra set of hands. In between these jaunts, Sakura picked up stray hours at the hospital and Kakashi contented himself with errand running.

Kakashi's eye opened a little wider when Sakura lifted a hand to stroke his cheek with the blade of her thumb. "So?" he prompted.

"I'm done," she replied with a heavy sigh. She craned her head back to look at the clock on the wall behind her.

He nodded and stroked a hand up and then down her legs, his fingertips tickling the inside of her right ankle and sending a shiver through her. Impulsively, Sakura tried to escape the ticklish feeling and laughed when he retaliated by hauling her back into his lap.

It surprised her how easy it was to be with him. A part of her had been expecting everything to fall apart just as soon as it had come together, but instead it felt like they had just always been together this way and the more time they spent together, the stronger that feeling was. There were changes too, of course, but they were all relatively minor and barely noticeable, except for just one: despite all the nights that Kakashi had spent at her house before their courtship, he refused to do so at present.

This was weird—something even Naruto had noticed and questioned until Sakura had distracted him with ramen—but Sakura could hazard a guess at an answer and it put her in an awkward position.

Over the years, especially after the war, things like dating, men, and physical relationships found themselves slipping further and further down her list of things she deemed important until they ranked even lower than cleaning the grout in her kitchen and tending her cuticles.

True, the life of a ninja was a frustrating, stressful, and even dehumanizing one. After a particularly long time away from home or after a mission gone wrong, it was hard not to feel detached and frustrated and one thousand other things at once. And, for some ninja, sex was as viable a coping method as anything else. It provided human contact and physical intimacy; an outlet, a grounding point, an escape. But Sakura, who could release such frustrations after tearing down an entire forest or bringing someone back from the brink of death, had never felt the need to indulge. Besides, the medical professional in her was repulsed by the risks and the obnoxious, hopeless romantic in her that she kept buried and gagged at all times, was turned off by the prospect of such a passionless exchange.

But things were suddenly very different. The reactions Kakashi evoked in her with a simple touch had been there for some time—even as early as their jaunt in Wind Country—but the turning emotional tides of their relationship had eclipsed them. Now, with her feelings more or less sorted out and those physical things growing more and more difficult to ignore, she was had to face the truth: she _wanted_ Kakashi. She wanted to drag him to bed, to feel his skin against hers, to indulge in the carnal—the consequences be damned—and if _his_ reactions during their more heated encounters were anything to go by, then they were on the same page. This made the prospect of a night together a little more… _temptation-y _than it had been in the past. In that light, she felt more than a little hesitant about him spending the night too, which was really bothersome. She hated the idea of sex looming over everything and scaring off the intimacy they already had, but actually _asking_ about it meant opening a whole can of worms.

Cynically, Sakura suspected that this was a great argument for why two people who had never been in proper romantic and physical relationships should not get involved in one together. Kakashi seemed to be taking his usual cool, hands-off approach in fear of offending or pushing her and since the idea made her as nervous as it did excited, she didn't know whether to find a nice patch of sand to bury her head in or bring it up.

"It's late," Sakura announced suddenly, knowing that at this rate her thoughts were going to get her in trouble. "I should go."

Kakashi, who had been dozing, started a little at her voice and frowned as she got to her feet. "It isn't—" He glanced at the clock at the wall and paused.

Sakura laughed. "_You_ lost track of time? Shocking."

He shot her a narrow, good-humored look as she moved around the couch, sweeping her coat off the back of and then slipping into it. She moved for her boots next, stepping into them and fastening the buckles with quick, practiced motions. When she straightened a hand came down on her waist and she turned to face Kakashi, letting him pull her up against him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing."

Kakashi raised a skeptical eyebrow. "You're bolting out of here and there's nothing wrong?"

Gods, he was good. Lying to Kakashi was like trying to keep something from Sai. It just didn't work. "I'm _fine_," she insisted. "My mind's just… all over the place tonight. No worries."

He still looked doubtful, but conceded. "If you give me a minute; I'll get dressed and walk you home."

Sakura just barely wrangled her urge to stomp her feet. She couldn't resist the opening this presented her. _Damn._ So much for getting out of there before her mouth got her into trouble. "If you walk me home, you'll have to walk all the way back here."

"Very astute of you."

She scowled at him and tried working her hands up under his shirt to pinch his side, but he stopped her and she laughed as swatted her hands away with his before pulling her closer against him. "Kakashi," she began again, sobering and leaning away from him, "Why walk all the way back?"

The man looked taken off-guard by this at first and then settled on an attempt at cluelessness. "Sakura, I don't—"

"_Kakashi_." She tipped her head and fixed him with a knowing look. "You didn't think I'd notice, or what?"

Looking vaguely resigned, he started to rub her shoulder with one while the other held her at the waist. "I shouldn't have dreamed of getting anything by you," he replied with some good humor, which earned him a swat on the shoulder. He smiled, but it wasn't long-lived as he mulled over his next words and his brow began to furrow. "It isn't the same now, with us seeing each other, as it was before, Sakura."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, a little amused by this. "Hatake Kakashi, are you getting old-fashioned on me?" she asked. "You'd just be spending the night. Like you have. A _million_ times before."

Kakashi actually laughed at this, which served to lighten the heavy air around them. "I know, but I don't want to make a mess of what we have now." His trailed off as he lifted his hand from her shoulder to comb through the locks framing her face. Then he pulled away completely, backing up to lean his weight against the back of the couch and rubbing his neck nervously. "Aren't you, um… happy? With the way things are going, I mean?"

For a moment she wasn't really sure how to react to this—Kakashi acting so nervous was both completely disarming and absolutely adorable—but an instant later she shook it off and stepped toward him. "Of course I am," she said, draping her forearms over his shoulders. "For the record, this wasn't about sex. I'm not even really talking about it—or I wasn't before, at least." She sighed and slapped a palm to her face, prompting a chuckle from Kakashi, whose hands settled on her hips to keep her from pulling away. "I just don't think there's a problem with you staying over." Her hand slid down her face a little so that she could look at him, her eyes narrowing speculatively. "But while we're on the topic, are _you_ happy with the way things are?"

He smiled in response and it was one of those moments when Sakura got the feeling that it was a real, honest to the gods smile under that mask. "Very."

She tried very hard not to be elated by this. Ultimately, she failed. "I really should go now," she said finally. She spared him a sly look and smiled. "You sure you don't want to come with me?"

Kakashi shook his head and tipped his head to invite and receive the brush of her lips against his through his mask. "Good night, Sakura," he murmured.

Sakura smiled back and him and nodded. "Good night, Kakashi."

* * *

At some point, Sakura had just stopped being surprised when she came home to find random people sitting in her house. The novelty just wore out after a while.

But she had to give credit where credit was due: Neji still managed it. When she entered her house she found that the lights in the kitchen were on and then discovered the Hyuuga sitting at her table, his arms and legs crossed, and his expression stony and irritable. He was wearing his traditional, Hyuuga garb and he was spotless, indicating that he hadn't just come from a mission.

"Neji?" she prompted, folding her arms and approaching with some caution because an irritable Hyuuga was nothing to trifle with. "Are you all right?"

"Have you heard anything from Tsunade-sama?" he asked without looking her way or even acknowledging that she had asked him a question.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at this. "Regarding what?"

He spared her a mildly unimpressed look, as if he were exasperated by this attempt at feigned stupidity. "I know that there have been letters exchanged between you and a contact in Kirigakure and that ANBU is concerned about the possibility of classified information being traded without permission." He looked away. "Have you heard anything?"

Having nothing witty to say in retort, mostly because she was too busy wondering how he knew anything about this, she shrugged. "No."

He grunted indifferently and, at a loss for what else to do, Sakura moved to put the kettle on. In that time, neither of them spoke.

This was just _weird_ and that was saying something for a woman who kept and enjoyed the company of people like Kankuro. She and Neji weren't exactly close, especially not in comparison to her relationships with the rest of Team Gai, so this wasn't a social call or one friend coming to console with another. It clearly wasn't official business either or he would be in his uniform. All that was left was sheer, morbid curiosity about what was happening, but even then it seemed off. Why did he care?

Once she got the kettle on the stove, she approached the table again. Subtly was not her key strength, especially not in this sort of situation, which left only blunt and brute force. "So, why are you here? Not that I don't enjoy the company and it is nice to have a visitor who isn't bleeding everywhere."

"I wanted to talk to you about this situation with ANBU."

"What about it?"

Neji's jaw tightened fractionally, but noticeably. "I don't approve."

"Of them or me?"

He didn't look even remotely amused by this response and made it a point to meet her eyes squarely. "Them. I respect what you do for everyone by opening your home to us. The time and energy you sacrifice and the inconveniences you endure are beyond the call of duty," he said, his tone bald and matter-of-fact. "And it… _angers_ me that they would treat you this way in response."

It was safe to consider Sakura completely blown away. Who knew Hyuuga could get angry over something that wasn't an affront to their pride? Who knew Neji respected her? Okay, she kind of did. Ibiki had mentioned Neji giving her his approval during their brief meeting, but she hadn't really thought much of it at the time. After all, smart men didn't insult their medics.

"I really appreciate that, Neji," she said finally. "It means a lot to me."

"What do you plan to do about ANBU?"

The medic shrugged. "There isn't much I can do without digging myself deeper. I wasn't even going to go to Tsunade-sama about it at first, when they were just snooping through my things and letting me know that they knew who I was talking to. But with his last letter my contact has started asking for information and I had to tell her."

"That should be enough to prove your innocence."

"It just proves that I went to her after ANBU started questioning what I was doing," she replied with a dismissive wave.

"How can you be this casual about this?" he demanded. "This is insane and you know it."

She scoffed. "Tell them that. Tea?"

Neji nodded, his lips twisted like he was sucking on a lemon. "There are others too."

"You're being cryptic. Stop it," she scolded as she got back to her feet and moved for the cupboard where she kept her teacups. "Others who?"

"Who disapprove of how the higher-ups have been handling this situation," he replied. "Why do you think you've happened on so many of the agents sent here?"

She paused at this as she was setting out two cups and saucers and turned to look at him, her expression torn somewhere between incredulity and realization. "They let themselves get caught?" she asked. "Whose idea was that?"

Neji shrugged and made a noncommittal noise.

Sakura swiped a lock of hair out of her eyes and then picked up the cups to carry them to the table. "I don't want you getting in trouble for me."

"Why? It doesn't sound like you're going to fight yourself, so we will for you," he replied.

"You will not," she corrected, fixing him with a narrow, determined look and receiving one in return. "ANBU can't charge _me_ with insubordination. You're risking your careers."

"You have to do something," he retorted. "You know this isn't fair."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Of course it isn't," she said, returning to the countertop and removing a jar of tea leaves and filling two strainers. "It's childish, paranoid, and vaguely underhanded, but they're not trying to paint me as a traitor. They just don't like it that I'm treating their operatives and communicating with Kiri, so they're trying to put an end to the one without losing the other."

"It still isn't right."

"Agreed, but I am kind of between a rock and a hard place."

"Then why don't you refuse to treat their operatives?"

She turned to face him, an exasperated look on her face. "What?"

"Tell them that they are not welcomed here anymore," Neji elaborated. "Or allow them use of your medical supplies and room, but do not waste your energy on them."

"Yes, don't heal the guys on my side. A brilliant strategy." She spared him a wry look before going to retrieve the now whistling kettle. "I'm not going to stand by and let someone suffer just to prove a point to the higher-ups, who I don't think would be all that moved by it anyway."

"Haruno—"

"Tsunade is already handling this, Neji." Sakura filled both of their cups with hot water and finally took her seat again. "And I don't like saying this, because of how it sounds," she elaborated with a wince, "But I have one certainty that ANBU doesn't in this particular situation."

"And that is?"

"Tsunade is on my side." The medic shrugged, stirring her tea as the leaves began to steep. "I'd die for this village. She knows that. Besides, she was the one who suggested that I get in touch with Kiri in the first place and she's been overseeing it the whole time—well, for the most part. She knows I haven't been doing anything to compromise security."

Neji's brows rose fractionally at this. "So ANBU can argue with that choice as much as they want, but they don't have the authority to stop or punish you."

"Not really," she replied. "I turned Ibiki's offer down, remember? They can pull this "periphery" bull as much as they want, but they know as well as I do that they'll have to win Tsunade over with it and I don't think they can."

"So they can slow you down, but they cannot stop you." He leaned back slightly, eyeing her in an appraising manner. "May I ask one more question?"

Sakura removed the strainer from her tea and then lifted it to her lips. "Shoot."

"Why are you so determined to get this information?"

"What do you mean?"

Neji shrugged. "Your ultimate goal is to solve the mystery of the Sharingan, isn't it?"

"More or less, yes."

"Is it really worth all of this effort?" He tipped his head. "It has never been easy, from what I understand, but it seems to have gotten exponentially harder for you with ANBU's involvement. Even being forced to contact Kiri has given you one more hurdle. Why do you keep going?"

She raised an eyebrow at him in return and shrugged. "Tsunade-sama would say that I just don't know when to quit."

"There is more to it than that, isn't there?"

Sakura wondered for a moment if he somehow knew what was going on between her and Kakashi. Had he seen them together somehow? "What do you mean?"

Neji shrugged again. "I just don't believe that simple stubbornness or curiosity would drive anyone to these lengths." He paused for a moment as he stirred his tea and then added after some thought, "Unless you happen to be Lee, of course."

She smiled. "I don't know what to tell you," she replied. "They say you do crazy things for love."

Neji might have been amused by this, but it was hard to tell. "I suppose so."

* * *

They had their tea and then Neji departed with a curt nod of his head and an offer to assist if she ever needed it. It was sweet and it made her feel just a little bad for all of that time she had spent calling him a jackass.

Sakura fell into bed later that night with a considerably lighter mind. Hers and Kakashi's little exorcism had put her thoughts to rest about them for the time and her talk with Neji gave her a sense of fulfillment. What she did really seemed to matter and it was appreciated. Medics were not exactly unsung heroes, but they rarely got a chance to see the fruits of their labor prosper and, unless they were stationed permanently on a single team, rarely still had a chance to be thanked for their work. This was especially true at the hospital where the turnover rate was very fast and by the time an individual was being released, their medic was off duty or onto another patient.

She wouldn't apologize for the fact that hearing that kind of appreciation from someone outside of her team made her all warm and fuzzy on the inside.

For some time, she stared at her ceiling and simply basked in all of this, but her basking was brought to a halt when she remembered what she had said. Since realizing it, she must have told Kakashi a thousand times that she loved him—in her head. That thought had never really found an actual voice before.

So when was she going to say it to _him_? She had never been shy about saying it in the past—having practically sang her love for Sasuke from the roof tops way back in the day—and what she felt for Kakashi was easily twice that. What was she waiting for?

Too easy: a confession would send Kakashi running for the hills. Or so she feared, despite knowing that this was completely immature and that Kakashi was a better man than that. After all, the man was many, many things, but he certainly wasn't a coward and she liked to think that he respected her enough to face that sort of thing like a man.

Sakura rubbed at her eyes.

Was she waiting for him to say it first? The thought was humorous. It wasn't going to happen. She would have never before in her life described Kakashi as being timid, but their relationship brought that out in him. This was uncharted territory and the man was ever cautious and methodical. He had lived a life of almost complete social isolation for a _long_ time and she wasn't going to change that just by _being_ there.

But should that really stop her?

Sakura fell asleep, alone with these thoughts.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Sakura. It's for the best."

Sakura almost couldn't believe her ears. A week after her conversation with Neji and Tsunade had finally called her into her office to discuss what had been decided.

"You have to understand that this is to appease the council and ANBU," Tsunade explained. "I would let you continue writing Ao until he simply ceased to amuse you, but it's important to keep the peace, if only for my sanity."

The medic simply gaped at her mentor in response.

"I have made it clear to the ANBU officials that they cannot prevent their men from seeking you out for medical care," the woman went on. "They have the right to go to whoever they are most comfortable with and I authorized their visits personally."

This was only a mild comfort. It was good that ANBU wasn't allowed to tell the men they couldn't come, but that didn't really mean anything. They still got what they wanted and she was left with squat.

"You can also rest assured that surveillance will no longer be a problem." Tsunade said this through grit teeth as her eyes darkened menacingly. "I made it very clear to them that treating my student like a traitor was not just an insult to you and all of the work you've done for Konoha, but to me personally. Of all the idiotic, insufferable—" She cut herself off with a quick shake of her head. "_Anyway_, you can return Hatake's dogs to him. You won't need them anymore."

Sakura nodded. She could feel her cheeks reddening steadily. Time for Plan B, she supposed, except she didn't exactly _have_ a Plan B.

Tsunade reached into her desk suddenly and removed a single file folder and a scroll. "I know you're disappointed," she said. "But I have just the thing to keep your mind off of it."

The pinkette shot her a doubtful look.

The Hokage simply smirked in response and pushed the papers over to her. "I know this isn't usually your thing, but it's a solo mission," she began with her chin propped in an upturned palm. "Real boring stuff, I'm afraid: diplomatic business. I thought you could use the time out of the village to help you focus. Maybe a little time on your own will help you collect your thoughts neh?"

Sakura sighed and reached for the scroll, slumping back in her chair to unravel it.

Kiri. She blinked. Mizukage-sama was requesting copies of a recent diplomatic contract and a few historical files to add to Kiri's library, which was badly underdeveloped. She was offering a scroll of fuinjutsu recovered (translation: looted) from Uzushio in return as well as information on medical techniques and theories derived by the medical minds of their village.

Tsunade appeared very pleased with herself when Sakura looked up with stunned, wide eyes. "Well?" the woman prompted. "Will that do?"

Sakura skimmed the document again and then began to smile despite herself. "You magnificent bitch," she murmured.

Kirigakure, she knew, didn't have "medical minds" available. In fact, they had one of the most sorely underdeveloped medical programs of all of the great villages and those few medics they did have on hand were probably too busy elsewhere to do research of any kind. And historical files? That was almost _too_ on the nose.

"How long were you planning this?"

Tsunade scoffed. "I knew that the ANBU officials and the old farts on the council wouldn't be happy with any kind of compromise, so I got in touch with Mei myself. Lucky for you, she really wants to help out."

"Why?"

The blonde shrugged. "Who knows? The woman is a wildcard. When she was here last year she said your hair was charming and maybe that won her over. What matters is that she and I settled things ourselves."

"Doesn't the council have anything to say about this?"

"I'm sure they would," she replied, sounding almost bored, "But since they don't know anything about it and we're not going to ask, we won't worry about that. Don't give me that look, Sakura. What would be the point of even having a Hokage if they had to have their work double-checked all the time? I handle other inter-village communications and dealings by myself and this is no different."

Sakura scowled. "Then why was there such a fuss raised about what I was doing?"

Tsunade flapped a hand. "ANBU started it for reasons you've probably already deduced and the council just likes to jump on band wagons to feel useful." She pointed to indicate the files and scroll. "Now, this is a solo mission to Water Country. You won't be actually going inland since your contact will meet you at the harbor, but it's still dangerous and I want you to be careful."

"Does it have to be a solo mission?" she asked, making a face.

"I'm afraid so. Your contact will be coming alone and it's always best to keep these things even." She tipped her head. "Just tell me if you don't want to go, Sakura. We'll find another way or someone else—"

"No, I'll do it," the girl cut in quickly. "You fight a zombie army and you're pretty much ready for anything. Besides, I've been to Water before and I'm the only one who knows what questions need to be asked."

Tsunade nodded. "You'll leave in a few days. Rest up in the mean time, though. You'll want to get there as quickly as you can once you do leave; your contact isn't a patient man and you don't want to keep him waiting."

Sakura nodded and then raised her eyes hesitantly to meet her mentors. "Shishou?"

"Hm?" The woman was already reaching for another stack of folders to go through, a sure sign that their discussion was over.

"I'm sorry if I caused you extra hassle," the medic replied.

For a moment Tsunade looked briefly taken aback by this and then she fixed her student with a serious look. "Sakura," she began, sternly, "I don't care how old you are or that you're a Jonin now or that you think you should be able to do everything on your own: if you get in over your head, you come to me, and I'll sort things out. Am I being clear?"

Sakura glowed at this and nodded. "Yes, Shishou."

"Good. Now get out."

* * *

Sakura waited to tell Kakashi of her mission until the afternoon before she was set to leave. He was, not at all to her surprise, bothered by the news; so much so that he had turned and fled her house shortly after she finished explaining.

Round two started much later that night when she was packing her things and she heard the front door open and shut.

"I forbid it."

Kakashi was standing in her bedroom doorway, one shoulder propped against the jamb and his arms crossed.

Sakura almost laughed. "You forbid what exactly?" she asked.

"This." He gestured at her folded clothes and backpack. "I forbid it."

She stared at him and then she actually did laugh. "Aw, that's cute, sweetie," she said, approaching him and raising up on her tip-toes to peck him on the chin, "but I'm still going."

For a moment he looked almost taken aback, but then he shook his head and narrowed his eyes. "I'm not joking, Sakura."

"Neither am I," she replied, having returned to her bed to place her first stack of clothes in her bag.

"It's risky."

Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. "And our particular career path is _never_ risky," she retorted. "Kakashi, what is this really about?"

The man shifted, visibly uncomfortable. "I don't like the idea of you going alone," he admitted at length, looking uncomfortable as he spoke. "Water Country is dangerous—more-so than Fire or even Wind."

"I know that." She glanced back at him. "You don't trust me to do this on my own?"

"It's more that I don't trust the local color," he replied. He glanced at the clock on the wall. "How much time do I have to convince you not to go?"

Sakura looked to the clock as well and smiled. "A little less than ten minutes, but I wouldn't waste my breath."

"That soon?"

"I'm meeting Tsunade before I leave the village."

Kakashi nodded and, apparently undeterred, perched himself on the edge of the bed, motioning for her to join him.

She smiled and declined the offer with a wave of her hand. "Go."

"You won't have back-up."

"I'm meeting an ally—albeit one that doesn't like me much—the harbors are heavily policed because of the merchant ships that travel to and from there all of the time, and it isn't as if I can't fight myself."

Kakashi shifted. "What if he can't tell you anything useful?"

"What if he can?" she replied. "What if Ao can answer all of my questions and he's the one who knows how to help me out? Tsunade-sama herself said to put an end to the letters, so I have to do this or I lose my chance. Ao doesn't strike me as the sympathetic sort and he isn't going to give me what I want just because he feels sorry for me."

"Is it worth it?"

Sakura, who had turned to pull her cloak out of her closet, turned back to look at Kakashi, her brows creased. "What do you mean? Of course it is. I haven't done all of this work just to stop."

"Sakura," he started again, his tone stern. "I know that you don't like it when I say this sort of thing and you always stop me before I can, but hear me out. It's _just_ an eye. Give me one good reason why it's worth all of this hassle."

The medic sighed and pulled the drawstring of her pack tight. "First of all, it's not just an eye: it's the last Sharingan and therefore the last chance any medic has to figure it out. Secondly, and more importantly, it's _your_ eye."

Kakashi huffed quietly at this, sounding vaguely amused. "I said a good reason."

Sakura tried to talk herself out of it as she swung her pack over her shoulders followed by her cloak, but it was to no avail. It was Neji's fault as he had started it and she would have never dared say what she was going to before their chat, but if Kakashi wanted a good reason, she'd give him a good reason. "Kakashi," she began so that he looked at her. "I love you."

He was visibly stunned by this; his eyes widened, his mouth dropped open (or she assumed it did given the way his mask moved).

She smiled, pleased that she had managed to catch him off-guard, and then stepped forward. She cupped one side of his face in one hand and then tipped his head to press a lingering kiss to his masked lips. "I'll see you soon."

And she left him there, knowing better than to expect a response. He needed time before he would say it himself, perhaps even more than what she had given him by saying it after just a month, but she had a feeling that he also needed to hear it. This was enough to quell the horror creeping up on her; the fear that she had damaged things beyond repair with that one statement.

Consequentially, she would deny it if anyone ever claimed to have seen her skipping on her way to Tsunade's office

* * *

.1. Holy God someone needs to fix the damn editting options because I just spend twenty minutes fighting with this POS.

2. I'M BACK! AGAIN! AGAIN AGAIN!

3. Maybe number 3 should be the obligatory "I hate this chapter" note from now on. And I should point out that I only hate it because I felt rushed putting it together BECAUSE *deep breath*

4. I'm having surgery! In approximately 3 hours. Yeah. For those of you who are not a part of the DA group or do not follow me there, I shall sum up quickly for you: for the last few years I have been ill with the ick as I have taken to calling it-nausea, pain, inability to eat, etc. My doctor thought that it was my gall bladder (henceforth known as "failbladder") and lo he was right! So in about 3 hours I am going into the hospital to have my gallbladder removed.

5. I wish I could blame the ick on why I have not been updating, but that's really only half the problem. The other half is just plan old writer's block.

6. But speaking of the ick and the surgery to cure it, again for those of you who have not joined the DA group: nmmi-nut, the House Calls Community founder, is hosting a "Get Well Soon" contest over at the community! Details and such are available in the blog there! There's still plenty of time to get your submissions in if you want to join in the fun!

7. You can rest assured than any and all submissions will be drooled all over by me and recieve copious amounts of love. On that note, please check out the new fan art in the gallery done by the very talented jellybananza!

8. All right, no funny notes this time, but I promise next chapter will have them. Next chapter will also not be crap and will hopefully not be two months belated. Also, it will be Kakashi-centric, so there's always that to look forward to.

9. Review please! They warm the coggles of my heart!


	36. In Which There is Fluff and Little Else

**House Calls**

**Chapter 36**

* * *

Kakashi remained at Sakura's long after she had gone and stayed up all night on her couch, staring at the ceiling.

He knew that a disproportionate number of people considered him smooth. Others shared Gai's opinion that he was cool. Kakashi considered this particular deception his masterpiece, for he was neither—to an almost embarrassing degree, sometimes. A man who could only gape like a fish when a woman told him that she loved him was really anything but smooth. A man who then felt giddy like a twelve-year-old schoolgirl following this little confession _definitely_ wasn't cool.

But he just couldn't shake it. He had heard it from her before, just like he had heard her say the same to Naruto and Sai in the past, but it was always followed with a "but" and then a demand for them to leave or something. There were no exceptions this time around and he knew Sakura well enough to know that she did not say such things lightly.

So, she loved him.

She was _in_ love with him.

Kakashi couldn't stop himself from smiling if he wanted to.

It had been some time since he had come to the conclusion that he was really and genuinely happy, which was a concept that had been almost entirely foreign to him before Sakura. After all, he was in no way an optimist. In his mind, all good things inevitably met horrific ends and the only questions were "when" and "how". So it was strange that when he thought of his romance with Sakura, he found himself contemplating old age and marriage and merging their hectic, chaotic, bloody lives so that they could weather the rest of whatever fate had in store for them together, because it wouldn't all be so bad that way.

Of course, it wasn't very long into these little fantasies that doubt began to nip at his heels.

Kakashi did not fear commitment. He had been committed to a lot of things over the years; just never to another person. And that, he knew, was what Sakura would ultimately want. It really shouldn't be a problem, either. He was in love with her and had come to terms with it ages ago.

But _saying_ as much would make this coy, tentative little arrangement of dating and flirting and occasionally jumping each other like a couple of randy teenagers into something solid and undeniably _real_. And Sakura was the type of person who made a choice and dug her heels in, which contrasted rather sharply with the fact that he had spent the grand majority of his life allowing the tides to move him wherever they chose, certain that he'd never have anyone to whom it'd make a difference.

What if he couldn't be what she needed?

"Kakashi-senpai?"

He didn't start at the voice. He had heard the backdoor open and the footsteps in the kitchen and had already registered the presence as a non-threat, without consciously taking part in the process of doing so. "Ino-san," he greeted, looking up at the girl and nodding.

She raised an eyebrow, looking incredulous. "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi rubbed at his neck. "Mah, with Sakura leaving so late I thought I'd stay to make sure that any teams that came by knew she was gone."

The blond raised a skeptical eyebrow at this. "I see."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh." She gestured to the kitchen. "Sakura dropped by the flower shop yesterday and asked me to clean some stuff out of her fridge. I guess she plans to be gone for a while?"

Well, if he was right it'd take at least a week to get Ao to talk. "I think so."

Ino nodded and scuffed the toe of her shoe against the carpeting. "Um, I don't suppose you know where she went? She wouldn't tell me." She huffed, her cheeks reddening with something like anger. "I don't know why. I mean, I know that she's doing a lot of really _involved_ stuff, but I'm a trained medic too. It's not like it'd go totally over my head."

Kakashi sighed. If Sakura hadn't told Ino where she was going—and to his understanding, she told Ino _everything_—then she hadn't told Sai or Naruto either. Clever girl, leaving him to explain so that she wouldn't have to and therefore give anyone a _chance_ of talking her out of her mission. "She went to Water."

Ino's eyes widened for a second and then she began to purse her lips. "Because of ANBU?"

He nodded.

The blond hesitated. "Does Tsunade-sama know about this?"

Kakashi nodded again. He had seen the mission scroll lying on the top of her pile of things last night—the color of the seal indicating that it had come directly from the Hokage's hands.

"Good." She sighed. "Because she can be crazy, you know? And do stupid stuff without permission or backup." She huffed and stomped her foot again. "Backup! Did anyone go with her?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Why didn't _you_ go?" Ino demanded, but then in the same breath she sighed and shook her head, "Ugh, never mind. She wouldn't let you, of course. I'm sorry, Senpai." She sighed again and pressed on her forehead as if to soothe away a growing headache. "I need tea. Do you want tea?"

He waved her off, but doubted if she saw the gesture before she turned and bustled off into the kitchen.

* * *

Kakashi spent the rest of the day trying hard not to think about Sakura or her parting words in an attempt to clear his mind. Distance and time did wonders for rational thought.

This was harder than one might think.

Staying at her house was obviously out of the question if he wanted to stop thinking about her. Anyway, Ino seemed content to take her time cleaning and he was content to leave her to it. The problem was that Sakura seemed to be everywhere _else_ too. There were still apples in the fruit bowl on his counter in the kitchen to remind him of her and her perfume lingered on his couch cushions. The training fields made him miss the sound of her downing trees in an attempt to send Naruto via air across the village. Ichiraku and the Hokage monument both made him think of their first date while the lake made him think of all the ones that had followed. Even the simple act of walking around the village felt strange without her to accompany him.

Eventually Kakashi resigned himself to his apartment and his bed and tried hard not to look at the fruit bowl on his way to the bedroom from the front door.

Well, if nothing else his little exercise had given birth to one more bothersome little question to bite at his shins. Namely: how comfortable was he with how completely Sakura saturated his life?

He was a loner, by both nature and the nurturing of his past and profession, and he made no secret of this fact. It had taken him years to let his team in passed the heavy walls he had built around himself and it seemed with Sakura that he couldn't keep her _out_ of any part of his life anymore. Even if it was a ruse, he could at least _argue_ that Naruto and Sai were still on the outer periphery. There was no such argument existing for Sakura. She knew him better than anyone.

Kakashi groaned and scrubbed both hands over his face.

This was not helping. At all.

Most ironically, he found himself wishing that Sakura _was_ there. Or at least, the Sakura from three days in the past or at least the part of Sakura he felt he could say anything to. She did so much to ground him, which was a distressing thought given that he liked to think of himself as being someone who didn't need assistance in that particular area.

"Something wrong, Boss?"

Yes. Yes, there was. He hadn't heard Pakkun come in; hadn't heard him jump up onto the bed or even noticed the shift of the mattress.

This was going to get downright dangerous if he wasn't careful.

"I'm fine."

Pakkun, no doubt, smelled the lie. "Sakura troubles?" the Pug wondered.

"What makes you think that?"

"Instinct."

Kakashi snorted and turned his head a little to look at the dog. "Even if that _is_ the case, I'm not up for advice. I know your track record."

Pakkun grinned at this, but sobered. "Need some company then?"

For a few moments, the man said nothing and stared blankly at the ceiling. Then he glanced at the dog. "I'd like that. Thank you, Pakkun."

The little dog nodded and settled down on the mattress beside the man, letting his chin come to rest atop his forepaws and closing his eyes.

* * *

Kakashi spent the following day torn between thinking about not thinking about what Sakura had said and resisting the temptation to bash his head into the nearest, sufficiently solid wall because of how badly he was failing at his self-imposed task.

He was not, he kept reminding himself, some adolescent who was torn about his feelings for a girl. He was a grown man and he _knew_ what he felt. However, he also knew the consequences those feelings could reap and how painfully the happy, idealistic fantasies that he found himself occasionally lapsing into contrasted against the reality of his and Sakura's chosen profession. It didn't help either that he was new to this: to being in love and in a relationship and, maybe most awkward of all, _being_ loved.

Weirdly enough, the last one was the most jarring. Realizing that he loved Sakura had been strange, but just in that way that it always felt strange to put on a brand new uniform—stiff and unnatural at first but easy enough to accept with a little time. Knowing however that she loved him back made everything feel like it had suddenly and drastically changed when nothing had.

Finally, in a final attempt to take his mind off of it, Kakashi sought out the boys.

Bizarrely enough Sai was nowhere to be found and the glimpses he did catch of Naruto were glimpses of a blond blur streaking by him either late for a meeting with Hinata or running errands for Tsunade. This had the very fortunate side-effect of helping him put off explaining just where Sakura was (all that Naruto _probably_ knew was that she was on a mission and nothing more and it was hard to say what Sai knew). Unfortunately, this left him with no easy way to distract himself.

It was clearly time to take up a few of those courier gigs. A regular mission would certainly do the job _better_, but there was no telling how long he'd be away if he signed up for anything out of the village and, confusion or not, he wanted to be there when Sakura returned.

If she returned, the vindictive little voice of cynicism added.

Kakashi knew immediately that the way his heart lurched at that was _stupid_. Sakura's mission was a simple information trade and she was a powerful kunoichi—trained by Tsunade and a war veteran. She was perfectly capable of handling herself.

But that didn't invalidate that little bit of cynicism.

It was something that had quietly nagged at him since he had started falling for her. The odds of their story ending in tragedy like so many others far outweighed any chance they had of it had of ending well and just the thought of losing Sakura hurt like a knife wound. Wasn't that exactly why he had spent his whole life carefully keeping people at a distance?

He shook his head and dismissed the thoughts as he leapt for the next rooftop.

* * *

The next three days passed without a word from Sakura _or_ Tsunade, who was being understandably tight-lipped about the whole situation. This left Kakashi with nothing to focus on but his own, increasingly scattered thoughts. Fits of anxiety and optimism took him in turns, leading to some of the most muddled, confused, and wildly dichotomous internal tangents, which left him unable to concentrate on _anything_.

This came to a head when Naruto _finally_ got the time to bug Kakashi to come to lunch with him and Sai, who offered no explanation on the subject of his bizarre absence all week.

Apparently, Naruto was of the opinion that it just would not do for Kakashi to explain that Sakura had gone to meet an emissary in Water on a solo mission, without any elaboration on this fact, and then zone out. In fact, Naruto was predictably not happy about this development, but thankfully could only manage a confused stare in response.

At first.

Sai, who was quietly sipping his tea, was unfazed.

"What do you mean—?"

And with that Naruto was done being quiet, but Sai was faster and stopped him short by reaching around his teammate and slapping a hand over the blond's mouth.

Naruto muffled an obscenity into Sai's hand, Sai sipped his tea, and Kakashi stared boredly at the pair until the other patrons of Ichiraku slowly turned back to their meals and rejoined their own conversations. Shooting a warning look the blond's way, Sai slowly removed his hand.

"Sakura is a perfectly capable ninja," Kakashi said blandly. "There's nothing to worry about."

"Yeah, except it's _Water_," the blond hissed. There was a heavy _thud_ under the table, as a boot connected with a shin. The blond jumped and glowered at Sai. "What was _that_ for?"

"This is not something that should be discussed so loudly in public," the ex-ROOT operative replied tersely. "Use a little discretion, Naruto."

Naruto frowned a little and looked to Kakashi. "What's he mean?"

Kakashi sighed. "You know those problems that Sakura's been having?"

The blond settled back in his seat, frowning a little more with concern now than disapproval. "Yeah?"

"She and Tsunade found a way to go about things on the sly," he explained.

"Oh." Naruto looked truly taken aback by this for a moment, but gradually his expression faded into something like amused disbelief. "And Sakura-chan says that _I_ don't know when to quit." He scratched at his cheek, a little more perturbed now, and then looked to Kakashi. "Why couldn't we go with her?"

Kakashi shrugged. "The agreement was that the meeting would be one-on-one. It puts things on an even playing field."

"They gonna keep their end of the bargain?"

"I don't think they'd chance the political upheaval to follow if they didn't. Sakura isn't just some random medic, she's Tsunade's apprentice. Besides, she has too many friends that can cause too much trouble for any risk to be worth it."

Naruto eyed the older man for a moment before sitting back at this. "Well, it is Sakura-chan," he conceded. "If anyone can take care of herself…"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "That's very mature of you, Naruto," he said, "I thought you'd be more upset."

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it now, is there? And even if there _was_, if I messed things up Sakura would pound me to a pulp." He grinned a little sheepishly. "And then probably heal me and pound on me some more."

Even Sai seemed surprised by this. "You seem to have thought this through," he said. "It would appear that not all of Hyuuga-san's work has been in vain."

Naruto rubbed at his hair. "Yeah, Hinata's lessons have helped a lot. I guess I gotta thank Sakura when she gets back for suggesting it." He glanced at Kakashi. "When _is_ she coming back?"

"Whenever she gets the information she needs. It's hard to tell how long her contact will drag things out." Kakashi shrugged, massaging his neck as he considered his teammate. "The fact that he has orders to cooperate doesn't mean that he won't take his time." He shrugged. "It isn't easy to travel over there either. There are only a certain number of boats willing to take passengers and only a small number of those that are on their way to Water."

"I am sure she managed," Sai said with a shrug. "Sakura introduces herself as a medic instead of a ninja. Even then, she is not the most imposing to look at and therefore perceived as a non-threat." He paused and then added, with a shrug, "Most captains are happy to have a medic aboard, if only for a short time."

Kakashi eyed the boy for a moment and then nodded and looked to the blond again. "It'll be all right, Naruto."

The Kyuubi-vessel nodded and the three returned to their meals.

An hour later, Naruto bolted upon realizing that he was going to be late for a meeting with Tsunade, leaving Kakashi and Sai alone.

The Copy-nin spent several moments simple watching the ex-ROOT operative until Sai finally decided to acknowledge the awkward lag in the conversation. "Is there something wrong, Kakashi-senpai?" he asked.

Kakashi's expression remained neutral as the boy's eyes lifted to meet his. "You went with her, didn't you?"

Sai stared at him impassively for a long moment. Then he looked back to his tea. "We ran into each other by chance when she was on her way out of the village," he said. "I saw her as far as the harbor and helped her barter passage on a ship."

Kakashi frowned at this. "You didn't have permission to go."

"No, I did not."

"Does Tsunade know?"

Sai nodded. "Yes. I reported to her after I returned. I did not want Sakura to be blamed for anything."

"What did she do?"

"I will be assisting in the tending of the hospital's herbal gardens for the next month without pay." The boy shrugged one shoulder. "A pittance, really."

Kakashi smiled at this and nodded. "You're a good friend, Sai."

Sai practically beamed at this. "Thank you, Senpai. Speaking of the gardens, I must go now."

The older man nodded and watched as the ex-ROOT operative pulled his satchel with him as he slid out of the booth and got to his feet. He paused before he turned away, staring down thoughtfully at Kakashi for a long moment. The Copy-nin raised an eyebrow. "What is it, Sai?"

Sai shifted his weight, frowning thoughtfully to himself. "Sakura wanted me to tell you something, but I have no context for it and the point is therefore lost on me."

Kakashi frowned. "Shoot."

"Before boarding, she told me that she would not apologize for what she said." Sai tipped his head. "Did you two have an argument before her departure?"

Kakashi did what he could to keep his expression neutral as the defiant expression he imagined going with the words made his chest ache in a now quite familiar and very wonderful way. "I… I'll have to explain it to you some other time, Sai. I'm sorry."

"Understood. Have a good night, Senpai."

"You too, Sai."

Kakashi spent the rest of his evening in a stupor. He worked on automatic pilot, carrying out the rest of his courier duties with swift, mindless efficiency before going home to his quite concerned ninken. The dogs all shared skeptical looks with one another and then followed him into the bedroom, picking spots on the bed and floor to lay down as he shucked his shoes and fell back into bed.

There were times where even he got tired of thinking and extrapolating probabilities and scenarios. So, for the first time in days, he let himself fall asleep thinking about Sakura and nothing else.

* * *

He slept late and the rest of the afternoon was much like the evening previous. He picked up a few tasks from the mission desk and went about them, running and jumping over the rooftops of Konoha in an almost trance-like state.

Thinking was work. Thinking meant chasing his tail some more and never arriving at any conclusions.

By the end of the day, the trance was breaking under a fresh wave of frustration.

He wanted something to tell Sakura when she got home. He wanted the right thing to say, but the words and even what he really wanted completely eluded him.

"Kakashi-senpai!" A dirt-smudged Ino behind the counter of the flower shop perked at the sight of the man. "You're not someone I ever expected to see in here. What's up?"

Kakashi offered a small wave in reply. "Is your father around?"

"He's actually out in the greenhouse," she replied, flipping a stray lock of blond hair over her shoulder and leaning across the counter toward him, standing on her tip-toes to do so.

"Could you get him?"

"Ew, _no_," she said, scrunching her nose up. "He's working on the compost right now and I'm not going anywhere near that place until the smell clears and he definitely isn't coming in here until he's bathed. Maybe I can help?"

Kakashi rubbed at his neck as he withdrew a bound folder from the satchel at his hip. "I don't know. It's ANBU—"

"Ooh, probably something from Ibiki-oji. Lemme see!"

_Gods_, the girl was fast when she wanted to be. In a blink, she had the folder and was flipping through it with a rather bored expression. Kakashi might have protested if he had cared and fortunately he didn't. Odds were that the girl was already hip-deep in the family business and wasn't reading anything she didn't already know via one method or another.

"Kind of boring, everyday stuff," she concluded. "It can wait a little while, but I'll make sure that he gets it, all right?"

Kakashi nodded and tossed her a casual salute before turning to the door.

"Oh, hey wait a minute!" The girl was leaning eagerly over the cupboard again, her feet now completely off the ground. "Could you do me a favor?"

"What's the favor?" he asked as he faced her again.

Ino held up a finger and disappeared into the backroom, calling over her shoulder, "I always try to have a bouquet made up for Sakura when she's away on a mission, so she has something pretty and fresh in the house when she comes home, but I'll be working the counter all day and I wouldn't be able to get these over to her place until way late tonight. Could you run the arrangement over there?"

Kakashi stared at the curtain that separated the storefront from the backroom. First of all, the request made no sense. Secondly, did that mean what he thought it did? "Sure," he replied belatedly upon realizing that she probably expected an answer.

Ino reappeared a moment later with a small bouquet of elaborate, origami flowers tied together with pink ribbon. She beamed at him happily. "Aren't they awesome? We've had a ton of orders to fill this week, so I didn't really have the flowers to spare to make a decent arrangement for Sakura, so I got creative." She grinned and held them out to him. "You're the best, senpai."

He accepted the bouquet gingerly. The request made even _less_ sense now. "So," he began slowly, sparing her a calculating look, "What do you know about Sakura coming home?"

"Oh, well I'm not really supposed to know anything, it being so hush-hush," the blond replied, visibly attempting innocence as she fiddled with the ribbon of the bouquet, but wearing a weirdly knowing little smile. "_But_ she is my best friend and being such I take on some of her errands when she leaves the village and I _might_ have _maybe_ happened by Tsunade-sama's office when she was telling Shizune-senpai that Sakura was on her way home." She rolled her eyes upward innocently. "_Maybe_."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He had the weird feeling—the same feeling he sometimes got from Ibiki, in fact—that he was being lead into something. "When will she be here?"

Ino practically glowed at this and bounced happily on the balls of her feet. "Sometime tomorrow."

He nodded, but continued to eye her.

The blond's smile didn't waver.

"Thanks," he hedged after a moment longer.

"You too," she said with a high-pitched little giggle, "I really appreciate the help! Have a good afternoon, Senpai."

Under the impression that he had just taken part in a whole different conversation, Kakashi gave a little wave and turned for the door.

* * *

Kakashi stood at Sakura's front door, listening through the wood for any sign of life in the house before entering. For the most part, those that dropped by in Sakura's absence did not linger and at this time of the evening the chances of anyone else coming by at all were slim, but it didn't hurt to check. He was in no mood for company.

Out of habit, he pulled off his sandals and flak jacket at the door, hanging the latter on a hook in the wall and kicking the former against the wall and out of the way. Next he laid the flowers down on the table and then turned to look around the room.

Even without Sakura around, her warmth saturated the place. There was really no reason to wonder why so many ninja were comfortable here.

Or maybe that was just him.

On auto-pilot, he moved to the couch and sank gratefully into the cushions, tired and sore from the day of running. Running errands. Running from his thoughts. From Sakura.

He took a deep breath through his nose and then exhaled slowly. The whole house smelled of Sakura—whiffs of perfume detectable over the scent of antiseptic and herbs—and it soothed his slowly fraying nerves.

_Running_.

Just like Pakkun had said he would. Just like he had said he _wouldn't_.

Kakashi shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair. He was chasing his tail again. But how pathetic was this? He loved a beautiful woman who loved him back and yet for the last week all he could think of were reasons to get away from her.

He was too old.

He didn't want to hurt her or to _be_ hurt.

It'd never work out anyway.

They played on a loop in his mind, but for as much sense as they seemed to make, they began to lose weight and meaning with every revolution.

Kakashi ran his fingers through his hair again. It was time to stop running and to stop making excuses. He owed her an honest answer, no matter what it was, and reminded himself that this was Sakura. She wasn't just some woman he was dating, but his best friend and his partner; someone he trusted more than any other living person.

So, _why_?

Why was he too old? Because Sakura had said so? Because she had expressed some sort of disdain for the age gap? Not at all. And she certainly wasn't too _young_. It regularly slipped his mind that she actually _wasn't_ his age.

Age didn't even bother _him_ all that much. Yes, sure, if he let his ego have a word on it, then he was maybe a little self-conscious about being with a woman so much younger than him, but that didn't seem like something that should stop him. He wasn't the tarnished, aged, and cynical relic he liked to think he was when compared to her. Sakura was anything but the wide-eyed idealist she had been in her youth and given her specific line of work it was possible—his years of seniority notwithstanding—that she had seen more blood and death than him and that always left its mark on a person.

Kakashi got to his feet and began to pace.

The light in the house had shifted, with the sun now predominantly slanting in through the living room windows and stretching across the floor into the bedrooms.

He paused in the doorway of her room and then hesitantly stepped inside.

Books. If there was one thing he'd always associate with Sakura it was books. She had them scattered everywhere throughout the house—medical texts on anatomy and physiology, jutsu scrolls, historical volumes piled on shelves and stacked on every flat surface with available space.

He paused at her desk and ran his fingertips over the cover of what he recognized to be one of Sai's sketchbooks and then saw their most recent team photo framed and positioned carefully on the corner of the desk on top of a pile of unfinished medical reports. Ino had insisted on the photo before they headed off on a diplomatic mission, cooing about how professional they all looked in their flak jackets—even Sakura, who eternally resented hers.

He smiled a little when he saw her hand tucked into the crook of his arm. He remembered trying to escape as he was not a fan of having his photo taken for a number of reasons Sakura had once deemed symptomatic of paranoia, but she had caught him and after a few more futile attempts to wheedle his way out of it, he just stopped trying.

Which was an apt summary for their whole friendship actually, he realized with a quiet chuckle.

Kakashi rubbed at his neck and scanned the room. Somewhere, he knew, Sakura kept Obito's and his father's medical records hidden—very well hidden she had insisted once when he had expressed worry about ANBU finding her with them because that was something she'd be better of not being forced to explain. And he'd be damned if she wasn't telling the truth. She had let him search the place once to no avail. To save face, he had declared she was cheating since not everyone had dominion over their very own pocket dimension and she had laughed at him and given him a kiss as a consolation prize.

He was smiling even wider now, he realized. He self-consciously ran a hand over his face, the fabric of his mask scratching against his fingertips.

It was silly and he had never thought that he could be like that as he usually agreed with accusations that he had no sense of humor. But Sakura brought it out in him. She brought out a lot of things in him that he had thought were gone or just not there.

She really was the best thing in his life. And that, he decided, wasn't a bad thing.

Kakashi wandered back to the doorway and propped himself against the jamb as he surveyed the living room, turning on a lamp when he realized how dark it was getting.

Time healed. The guilt that had ravaged him not so many years ago had begun to fade since the last war. Forgiving his father had helped him slowly begin to forgive himself. Obito's and Rin's memories would never fade, but the self-hatred their deaths had bred in him had started to wane. Sakura and the boys helped to, providing proof that he could move forward. He didn't have to hang onto his regrets and the past to prove that he hadn't forgotten everything he had lost.

Regrets.

He wandered back to the couch, the word repeating again and again in his mind.

All of his life, he mourned for Obito and Rin because of things he had never had the chance to tell them. He had mourned for his father because of the time together that had been robbed from them.

Kakashi fell back into the cushions and stared at the ceiling.

The years had left him afraid of loss, he'd admit that. In fact, a lot of ninja avoided commitment to avoid that pain. The problem with that was that he already loved Sakura and he knew that it wouldn't hurt any less to lose her just because he had pushed her away. It would only leave him with more regrets and he'd be the only one to blame for them.

He'd never regret being with her, though.

Sure, it could all end in disaster, but he suddenly found himself tired of running from that possibility. He had already beaten the odds in the past—in the wars, on missions, even by reaching his thirtieth birthday—and even if it was insane, he found that he wanted to try for that impossible happy ending people like them weren't supposed to have. And with Sakura, with the woman he had beaten so many of those odds _with_, it didn't seem so farfetched.

Kakashi was smiling again despite himself. The only light in the room now was the faint glow from the lamp and he smiled a little wider at that. Sakura would snort and dismiss it as typical. Only he could kill hours just by being lost in thought.

_Sakura_.

He hoped she wasn't delayed getting home. For having not known what to say all week, he now had so much to tell her.

* * *

Kakashi paced and dozed in turns, deciding that he'd rather be there when she got back than go home and face the endless questions from Pakkun, who had been biting his tongue for some days now about his contract partner's sullen mood.

Periodically throughout the night when he awake, he removed his mask to test the idea of being without it. He wasn't sure why Sakura hadn't said anything more about it once they began dating, but it didn't feel right to keep it a mystery anymore. If this was going to be a commitment, it wouldn't do to go about it half-assed. He wanted her to know that he was sincere and given his standing record with words, this was the best way he could think of to say it.

It was well into the afternoon when the first light shuffle on the porch outside had Kakashi reflexively replacing his mask. He was seated on the couch, Icha Icha opened in one hand to pass time.

He had been thinking and rethinking everything all morning in between bouts of sleep, but he returned every time to the same conclusion: he wanted to be with Sakura.

The door opened next and Kakashi found himself tensing as he turned to look. Shikamaru had already gotten his hopes up earlier by dropping by to check Sakura's medical stock (which solved that little mystery). He hadn't even questioned why Kakashi was there, because why would he? Sakura had random visitors all the time and Kakashi made more sense than most.

"Oh home; home, home, home, home, _home_."

Kakashi's mouth split into a wide smile and he turned immediately to look at the door as Sakura stepped inside, throwing her backpack unceremoniously to the floor and spreading her arms welcomingly to the living room, her eyes closed, her expression blissful.

He couldn't help the quiet chuckle that escaped him.

Sakura's eyes popped open and she turned toward him quickly, her expression surprised at first and then, to his delight, ecstatic.

"Yo," he greeted with a casual salute.

Her face split into that smile that made him ache. "Kakashi," she murmured, sounding emotional as he stood and stepped around the couch to face her. "You're here."

The Copy-nin was half-tempted to reply with something snarky, as per their usual dance, but the words died in his throat when she was suddenly on her tip-toes with her arms wrapped around his neck and her face pressed into his shoulder. He would have even sworn he felt her shaking when he hugged her back, but when she pulled away she seemed composed.

Not that that meant anything.

"And you're back sooner than I thought you'd be," he said after a lengthy pause, the air thick and awkward between them as she took a step backward. His hands fell reluctantly back to his sides. "Did you get what you needed?"

Sakura started a little at the question, but then began to beam in a way that would make to Gai cry out in joy. "Yes," she said with force, wiping a hand quickly over her eyes. "I'm not a hundred percent sure yet and I have a little more research to do and a lot more talking with Tsunade-sama, but…" She laughed a little and rubbed at her neck as she lifted her eyes to his. "I think I know how to fix your Sharingan."

Kakashi smiled too. Gods, he was in deep when he was happier that she had found her answer than he was because she could fix his eye. "That's wonderful, Sakura."

She nodded happily, but it wasn't very long before her smile began to fade. She looked down and took a breath. "So, um—" She began undoing the clasp of her cloak and slid it off her shoulders, folding it over one arm and then moving away to hang it up by the door next to his flak jacket. She bent next to begin undoing the catches of her boots and peeled one off and then the other. "How have things been here?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Uneventful," he said and then, after a moment, added the first thing that came to mind to keep things going, "Sai told me he went with you to the port."

She cringed as she turned back to him, rubbing her hands together anxiously in front of her. "I hope Tsunade-sama wasn't too angry with him. I mean, I tried to stop him. He's just so… stubborn."

"Given how Tsunade is sometimes, it sounded like she went easy on him."

Sakura nodded. Her eyes were downcast and focused somewhere off to the left. Her hands twisted nervously in front of her.

"How was Water?"

"A hellhole."

He smiled. "Same as always then. What about your contact? As charming as his letters?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at his obvious amusement. "Every bit as much and more." She glanced at him and then away again and lifted a hand to play with the ends of her hair. "So, how was Naruto? I hope he wasn't mad that I left without explaining everything to him. I thought I'd just get another argument."

"Well, he wasn't happy, but he knows how you can be sometimes." Kakashi shrugged, ignoring her small pout in response to this. "I think his time with Hinata-san is really starting to help give him some perspective."

"That's good," she said, nodding. "That's… that's really good. I'm glad." She smiled to show this, but it faded quickly and with a frustrated sigh she lifted both hands and buried her face into her palms. "Okay, I can't take any more small talk. I've been worried about it all week, so I'm just going to expedite things and shoo the elephant out of the room as fast as possible, all right?"

Kakashi wished he could say that he was taken aback by this, but he knew better. Of course she had been worried. She _did_ know him and she had already expressed concern about him bolting on her. No doubt, what she had said had felt like a horrible mistake and despite the urge he felt to assure her otherwise, he was curious to hear what she had to say.

And apparently sensing this, Sakura heaved another sigh and anxiously began to wring her hands again. "I meant what I said," she began at length. "I also meant what I told Sai: I won't apologize—for feeling that way or for saying it. I wanted you to know because I wanted you to understand why I was going, but I don't need to hear it back. Not right away, I mean. It might take time and I'm okay with that. I know you." She tried to smile once more, but it was weak and her eyes dropped almost immediately to the floor as she added, much more quietly, "But you should know that I think you're it for me." She rubbed a hand over her eyes again and then lifted both hands in a show of surrender as she laughed. "There. Done and with minimal babbling."

Words were lost on Kakashi, which he would be quick to blame later on a myriad of things that were not the current sense of elation he felt numbing his brain. Instead, he pushed away from the couch and stepped towards her. It would be useful now, with his sudden muteness, to be either smooth or cool, but since Sakura was very likely not under the delusion that he was either of those things, it didn't really matter.

"I like it when you babble," he offered finally.

Sakura smiled genuinely in reply, for the first time since she had been home, and he felt some of the tension ease in his chest. He offered her a hand that she quickly accepted and stepped closer.

"And I think you're it for me too."

The medic's eyes widened a little in surprise, but then her whole face lit up with another, more watery smile. "You're sure?" she asked with a little laugh. "You know me."

As far as he was concerned, that was the best part. However, instead of saying anything, Kakashi lifted his free hand and after just a second of hesitation, hooked his fingers in his mask and dragged it down to fold under his chin. He grinned a little at the way Sakura's eyes went wide again. "I'm sure."

Sakura stepped closer, her expression still incredulous at first and then suddenly teary as something finally seemed to sink in. She lifted a hand to touch his cheek, her thumb smoothing over his skin and stubble, and then she combed her fingers back into his hair and pulled him down to her level to kiss him.

He gladly obliged her.

* * *

"You know what?"

Kakashi cracked open an eye to look at Sakura, who was lying comfortably on his chest and looking down at him. "Hm?"

It was late in the afternoon and they had decided to spend the day just relaxing together, with him only having slipped out while she was in the shower to get cleaned up at his apartment and pick up a few things for her from the market. Sakura insisted that her meeting with Tsunade could wait until the next morning. While Kakashi suspected that it really _shouldn't_, he wasn't going to argue.

"I was right."

"What about?"

She grinned. "You _do_ have the weirdest tan-line I've ever seen," she said and when he snorted and closed his eyes, she added, "_And_ you're pretty easy on the eyes. I'm two for two."

He cracked open an eye again. "You predicted that?"

Sakura shrugged. "Ino and I had a few speculations." She caressed his cheek with the blade of her index finger and offered a reassuring smile, "It wouldn't have mattered to me either way, but I do enjoy being right."

Kakashi chuckled and rubbed a hand up and then down her back. "Glad you approve." He paused a moment and then frowned at the ceiling. "Sakura?"

"Hm?"

"I recall a time when you wouldn't leave me alone about my mask. Why did you stop asking when we started dating?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I stopped asking after our last mission in Wind Country."

"Really?"

"Mm-hm."

Kakashi craned his head to look down at Sakura. "Why did you stop after that?"

Her cheeks pinked a little as she pushed herself up to sit back on her calves. "You remember that mission we took for Gaara right?" she asked and he sat up to face her, bending his knees to drape his arms over them. "Remember when you got that cut on your cheek and I healed you?"

How was he supposed to forget? He rubbed at his neck. "Yeah."

"Well, it just didn't feel so important after that. Plus, it was kind of, um… intense and it kind of freaked me out at the time." She shrugged and reached out to lay her hand over his on his knee. "Once we got our act together… I don't know. I guess I figured that it was something you'd have to do in your own time." She smirked suddenly and added, "I remember you saying something about being patient with you."

She was teasing him, but he couldn't stop himself from smiling at her. "Thanks."

The medic smiled back and then lifted her hand to touch his face again; her fingers skating down one side of his jaw and then up the other.

Kakashi chuckled and tipped his head in her hand. "Is this going to be your new thing?" he wondered.

"Until the novelty wears off."

"When do you think that'll be?"

"That's impossible to say." She laughed and leaned in to press a quick kiss to his lips. "I think I'll get lunch started and then I want a go at your Sharingan. I have a lot of notes to take."

"You haven't taken enough?"

"Nope."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and then watched her as she hopped gracefully off the couch and then disappeared into the kitchen.

There were still things left for them to address. There were questions that needed to be answered. But as he got up to follow her into the kitchen, he decided that he was perfectly content to let them wait a little longer.

* * *

1. ARGH! I'm so sorry about this taking so long to get out, guys! I hate leaving you hanging!

2. Okay, first things first: surgery went perfect and I am 100% recovered. Yay for that.

3. The delay was a result of surgery and then my mother's current bout of bad health. We're getting through it, but be warned that future updates might continue being rather sporadic. Good thing that after this chapter we don't have much left to go.

4. Which brings me to this: For those of you who were expecting this chapter to consist of Sakura being snarky with Ao, I apologize. For those of you who were expecting something bombastic and dramatic, I also apologize. For those you who were looking for something melodramatic to occur to spur the romance on between our leads, I apologize again.

I felt it was important that we spend this chapter with Kakashi. I've not made it any secret that a good 90% of Kaka/Saku fanfics drive me bonkers and one of the things that will absolutely KILL a story for me is if Kakashi takes a big old bite of that tired, formulaic pie containing shredded commitment issues and boiled lumps of angst. I don't care if the entire fic, up until that point, has been golden. The minute that happens, I'm done. I am so tired of people making Kakashi into a coward who runs from the slightest bit of affection.

5. Now, whether I achieved my desired goals for this chapter is left up to you guys, because this has gone through so many rewrites that I don't know what to think anymore and I'm just posting it now before I trash the whole thing and shave my head, but what I wanted to convey was a Kakashi torn between nagging insecurities and what he wanted. I think of Kakashi as being the kind of person who spent his whole life denying himself what he wants because of guilt and self-hatred and that this is him finaly letting himself have something he wants, the risks be damned.

6. And for those of you who might be tempted to cry foul on how anti-climatic this all is, I have two arguments:

A. This story has never been about drama. Ever. If you were expecting this to suddenly get dark or turn into a rescue romance, then I'm sorry but clearly you've been locked out of the loop.

B. (And this is the much more valid and less trollish argument) I came to the conclusion of what House Calls basically is the other day: it's Kakashi's and Sakura's happy ending. They have been through so much shit in their lives in canon that this story, in its entirety, is nothing but giving them the happy ending they both deserve.

7. And on that note I won't apologize for how fluffy and insubstantial this chapter probably was. I'm tired of fics turning into rescue romances, I'm tired of Kakashi running away like a frightened rabbit at the mere whisper of affection, and I'm tired of stories that try to swerve the audience into believing that maybe they're really NOT going to get together (O NOES!) by pulling a final twist right out of their ass. I just wanted them to be able to be happy for once with minimal drama attached.

8. Now for those you wondering "Where else could this fic possibly go?" that's a good question. The next chapter will be up when I have the answer.

**(I also profusely apologize if Kakashi is wildly out of character here. Like I said, I've edited this so many times my eyes have started to cross. Review and let me know what you think!)**


	37. In Which Life Goes On

**House Calls**

**Chapter 37**

* * *

It hadn't taken much to convince Kakashi to stay the night, although Sakura hadn't been above implying that she might stay up all night reviewing her notes otherwise. She just didn't want him to leave and, in the end, Kakashi apparently didn't want to either. Besides, it was perfectly innocent. All Sakura wanted as to be with him and when she woke sometime early the next morning, just as the sun was rising, that was exactly what she still had.

Kakashi looked unbelievably peaceful in sleep, although a part of her doubted that he was still asleep. The man's senses were legendary. She'd believe it if he had awoken the second her breathing had changed. Despite this, she did her best to be stealthy as she shifted around to get a better look at him, propping her cheek in her upturned palm as she laid on her side next to him one of his arms draped around her waist.

Compulsively, she lifted a hand to touch his face and ran her fingers over the arch of his cheekbone and then down to trace the well-defined ridge of his jaw and the jut of his chin. She smiled despite herself at the scrape of his stubble.

Once, she had asked Ayame what Kakashi looked like, as the woman had once caught a glimpse of him without his mask. Much to her frustration, all Ayame had done was turn the shade of red Sakura thought exclusive to Hinata's color palette and then squeak something. Out of curiosity, she had asked Teuchi the same question and got a near identical response peppered with a lot of embarrassed coughing and "um, well, you know" filler, which had been almost twice as exasperating.

Now, she couldn't quite see what the big deal had been. Kakashi was not beautiful, like Haku had been, and he was not unnaturally youthful looking either, as Tsunade had always insisted with her spiteful use of the word "baby-face". He was perfectly handsome and there was nothing more to it. There was nothing otherworldly or ethereal about him; nothing that would cause mere mortals to succumb to fainting fits.

Sakura was not the least bit disappointed by this.

As silly as it sounded, she was glad to see that he was perfectly mortal and human in his appearance. His nose was just slightly off-center, possibly from having been broken one too many times, his smile was as lopsided as she had imagined, and despite how self-conscious she knew it'd make him if he ever knew, she liked the fine lines that were beginning to form around his eyes and mouth. She was even rather fond of the tired droop of his eyes, which was infinitely more charming when seen alongside everything else.

Impulsively, with her eyes stinging, Sakura smoothed his hair away from his forehead to kiss him above his right brow.

The mask was his "all-in" and after worrying that she might lose him, it was the only sign she needed to put her fears at ease. She knew him well enough to know how loaded the seemingly simple gesture had been and it said more than words ever could about where she stood in his life.

She took a breath. It would still be a while before their relationship was ready to be public knowledge and while she wasn't worried about opposition, she could already hear what the gossip mongers would say of it.

Sakura scrubbed a hand over her eyes. With the past playing host to too many bad memories and the future to too many uncertainties, she found that she liked to live in the present and at present she had him and in that moment, while they were still tucked under the warm cover of her quilt and immersed in the quiet of the morning, that was the only thing that mattered.

Eventually, however, she became aware of the fact that her mouth tasted like sand lizard and the moment desperately fled, flailing its arms and screaming

Making a face, she slid out of Kakashi's reach and rolled her eyes at the comically overplayed way his arm flopped limply onto the bed. With a muted snort of laughter, she got up and headed for the bathroom, pausing only to snag a set of clean underwear from her dresser as she went.

* * *

_Her_ bathroom. Nothing made her feel quite as "at home" as her bathroom with her shower products and her razors and her germs all over her questionably clean tile floor. This was especially true after any mission where hot showers were in short supply. Not that a hot shower, a clean bathroom, or good soap would have made Water, what with all of the rain and piercing winds and surly hunter-nin, any more tolerable, but she wouldn't have said _no_.

Sakura scrubbed herself from scalp to sole and just as the last of the suds were whisked down the drain, the bathroom door creaked open.

"Morning."

She smiled to herself and raked her fingers through her hair, making sure that it was thoroughly rinsed. "I hope I didn't wake you."

"You didn't."

Sakura rinsed one last time, turned the water off, and then reached around the shower curtain for her robe hanging on the hook on the wall. She pulled it on and tied the sash before pushing the curtain aside and stepping out of the tub.

"What are you doing?" she asked with a laugh when she saw Kakashi marveling at her opened medicine cabinet.

He shook his head as he ran the fingers of one hand through his hair. "I just expected this to be scarier."

Sakura laughed outright at that as she stepped up behind him and stood up on her tip-toes to peer over his shoulder. "You've never looked in my medicine cabinet?"

"I've never had cause to." He glanced back at her and gestured to the spotlessly organized cabinet. "Isn't this supposed to be worse?"

"Well, I always say that Ino has enough mess for both of us," she replied. She turned away to grab a towel from a shelf of them over her head. "Why were you expecting a mess? How many medicine cabinets belonging to women have you gone through?"

"I've watched you pack for missions. I've looked in your purse. This is not exactly a wild leap in logic after that."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to him, her head tipped to the side as she towel-dried her hair. "I don't—you've looked in my purse?"

Kakashi paused at this and looked at her. "Yes?'

"_Why_?"

"General ninja-related nosiness," he answered dismissively.

Ah, she should have called that one. "Well, I try to keep the horrifying things all tucked away in my bedroom," she explained. "My house guests wouldn't appreciate it and neither would I." She straightened and tossed her towel into the hamper before reaching around him to retrieve a comb from the cabinet. "What are you looking for?"

Kakashi smiled sheepishly. "I don't suppose you have razors?" he asked, rubbing at his whiskered chin.

She nodded and turned away to retrieve a razor, a wooden bowl with a puck of soap at the bottom, and a brush from a cabinet over the toilet. "Here," she said, placing everything on the sink. "I always have this stuff on hand." She stared at him for a long moment and then began to smile as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, can I try something?"

The man raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Like what?"

Without explaining, Sakura stepped forward, took his face between her hands, and pulled him into a kiss.

It was simple and chaste and quick and exactly the kind of thing that Sakura was realizing she wanted to wake up to every morning that she possibly could, which was probably why she let him kiss her again. The second time it wasn't any of those things.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said when they parted. "I bet that wasn't what you were talking about."

Sakura smiled back at him. "No, but I wasn't going to turn it down."

He grinned and stepped back, his right hand lingering to play with a few pieces of her still-drying hair before dropping to the sink as he leaned back. "So, what did you want?"

The medic eyed him and ran her fingers back through her hair. "Promise not to laugh?"

"I am the picture of stoicism," he replied in a perfect deadpan.

She laughed a little despite herself and reached up to touch his cheek, rubbing the blades of her fingers against his skin. "I've never kissed a man with stubble before. I just wanted to know what it felt like."

"I see." He said this in the same ponderous way some people contemplated the meaning of life even as a smile crept into his tone and he hooked two fingers of one hand around the belt of her robe to pull her closer. "So, you're into the clean shaven type. Or maybe just the ones too young to grow a beard."

Sakura placed one hand on her hip as she draped the other over his shoulder. "You're laughing at me," she warned.

"No. I'm teasing you," Kakashi replied with the tiniest of smirks as he looked down at her. "Teasing is a form of social interaction. Laughter is a sound produced in the human throat by the vocal chords in response to certain social interactions."

She rolled her eyes and threw her hands in the air in a show of surrender, but he stopped her retreat with a gentle pull on her belt. At her expectant look, he kissed her. It was brief too, but at this point that was probably for the best. They both had days to get on with. "Well?" he prompted when they parted.

Sakura hummed thoughtfully over this and then shook her head. "Can't say that I'm a fan." She reached over to pull the brush from the soap bowl and offered it to him. "Hop to it."

Kakashi rolled his eyes and accepted the brush. "You're hilarious," he called after her.

* * *

Sakura glanced back at the bathroom when she heard the shower kick on and then returned to making the bed. There was a good chance that last night had been something of a one-time thing and that Kakashi would return immediately to his previous position on sleeping over, but it was good to know that he was still comfortable enough to shower at her place.

It was still funny to her to think of Kakashi as old-fashioned, but it was refreshing—sweet, even.

She had just finished turning her bed down when she heard the front door open and immediately she went to the bedroom door to see. She brightened at who she saw and with a laugh she lunged across the living room and threw her arms around Naruto's neck, prompting him to lift her up off her feet into a bear hug.

"Hey, you are home!" He was standing in the opened door, wearing extra layers under his usual coat and letting in a draft from outside and beaming at her like the sun. "I heard you were, but I didn't believe 'em!"

"I got in late yesterday actually," she said, pulling back to grin at him, which faded quickly when she glanced at the door. "Gods, it's cold. I don't remember it being this cold travelling. Then again, I was just kind of glad to get away from the rain in Water."

The blond laughed and shifted his grip from her waist to her legs. "Yeah, it seemed to blow in with you." He eyed her speculatively after a moment and his voice dropped. "So… did you get anything?"

Sakura nodded once. "Yep."

"Really?" he asked excitedly as he let her slip back to the floor. "How'd you manage that? I thought you'd be gone for months just trying to convince that bastard to help you."

The medic smirked and rolled her eyes heavenward in a show of innocence. "Well, judging by the split lip my contact had, Mizukage-sama anticipated the potential problem and made a persuasive argument on my behalf." She looked to the blond and then reached up to take the scarf from around his neck. "I think that was probably for the best. It probably meant a lot more coming from a woman who can breathe lava."

Naruto laughed. "So… how close are you to figuring something out for Kakashi?"

She slung his scarf up onto a hook by the door and then stepped aside to let him hang his coat over it. "I'm so close, I can _taste_ it."

The blond's face lit up again and he threw his arms open wide to her, inviting another hug, which he readily received. "I knew you could do it!" he crowed, lifting her triumphantly. "That's why you're the best damn medic in _any_ village!"

"Don't start singing my praises all over the village just yet," she warned as dropped her again to her feet. "I still need to actually _do_ something. Right now it's just a lot of theory and words on paper. I need to refine my solution and weigh the risks and benefits with Tsunade-sama and Shizune-senpai."

Naruto nodded at this, but his smile hadn't faded. "I know, but you're _you_. It won't be long before you've nailed it."

Sakura smiled at this, but it faltered when Naruto's did. The blond stepped around her, frowning a little and tipping his head to one side, listening. "Who's in the shower?" he asked.

"Oh, um, Kakashi actually," she replied, scrambling for both a plausible lie and some semblance of control over the ridiculous heat rising to her cheeks. "Uh, I invited him over yesterday so that I could get a head start on the rest of my research and we ended up working so late that he decided to just stay over. I'm sorry. I would have invited you and Sai over—I know you must have been worried—but it's easier to work when it's just Kakashi and me."

"Oh well, no biggie!" Naruto beamed at her. "Besides, it'd of probably been boring as hell."

Sakura reflexively smacked his shoulder as the tension lifted from her shoulders. "So, um, Sai didn't come with you?"

"Oh, yeah." He gestured vaguely as he flopped back into an armchair. "He actually came by to tell me that you were home and we were kinda supposed to come over later, 'cause he thought you'd be sleeping still." He shot her a sheepish grin. "I was just so excited to see you though. I mean, Mist ain't exactly a walk in the park."

A whole new weight settled on Sakura again and she sighed. "I'm sorry about that, by the way." She stepped forward to sit on the edge of the couch. "I wanted to tell you, but I knew that you'd try to talk me out of it or insist on coming or something and I just couldn't—"

Naruto lifted a quieting a hand as a smaller, gentler smile appeared on his face. "Sakura, you don't gotta apologize," he said calmly. "I know that you meant it for the best. I mean, you were just doing what you had to and I can't blame you for that. Besides, Sai made it sound like a pretty hush-hush operation anyway."

Once again, the weight was gone and Sakura was left to simply stare at her friend in absolute wonder. "That's incredibly mature of you, Naruto," she said with clear admiration.

He perked and sat up a little straighter. "That's what Kakashi-sensei said! I think those lessons with Hinata-chan are already working."

Sakura grinned. "That's great to hear. You might be fit to be Hokage yet."

Naruto made a face at her. "I think I deserve breakfast for that."

"Hey now, who just got back from a mission?"

"Yeah, and who's up this early after a mission anyway?"

* * *

Sai had joined them soon after, correctly suspecting that Naruto wouldn't be able to wait to visit Sakura but not guessing that the blond would beat him to the punch. Apparently, if the look on his face was any indication, he had been expecting Naruto to walk in on something sordid between her and Kakashi and was visibly relieved to find the three of them amicably gathered around the breakfast table, everyone's innocence more or less in-tact.

Over the course of breakfast, Sakura attended to a team of wounded Chuunin. As she had not done a healing in almost a week—Ao's split lip just barely counting—it felt good to be back where she belonged. By the time she had sent them, Naruto, and Sai on their way, it was nearing ten o'clock and she had come to a realization she felt needed to be discussed.

"Kakashi?"

He looked to her as he shrugged into his flak jacket, already wearing his sandals and headband. Even his mask was still in place. "Hm?"

Sakura fingered the exceptionally long sleeves of her sweater. She wondered if he was off to accept one of those courier missions he had told her about or maybe he had yet to visit the Cenotaph? She opted not to ask. "You didn't mind that, did you?"

Although she couldn't really see it, she could sense the arch of his eyebrow. "I don't follow," he said, stepping closer as he dragged the zipper of his flak jacket up. "Mind what?"

Feeling lame, she gestured vaguely and uselessly with one hand toward the kitchen. "All of that. I mean, Naruto and Sai and then the wounded. I don't think we got a chance to say two words to each other that whole time." She smiled, feeling even more sheepish. "I mean, we're finally on the same page and you have to share my time with anyone who comes through that door. That's not going to change either."

Kakashi seemed confused by this, but only at first. Then he began to smile as he slid his hands into his pocket. "Are you apologizing?"

"Not really," Sakura replied and she smiled back, despite herself. "I just... it's one of those things that's always kept me from getting involved in a relationship in the past. It just felt like something that had to be said."

He nodded slowly and then stepped closer, never removing his hands from his pockets. "I don't know what sort of person would begrudge what you do out of the goodness of your heart or hate the idea of you having your own life outside of his," he began, his tone very serious as he stared down at her, "But do me a favor and don't ever date them."

This dragged a smile out of her and Sakura, without thinking, raised both hands to hold his face as she lifted up on her tip-toes to peck his masked lips. "I promise."

Kakashi appeared satisfied by this and tipped his head back to the door. "I need to go. I'll see you later maybe?"

Sakura nodded and smiled at him when he turned to catch her eye just before pulling the door shut behind him.

* * *

"I expected you to be away longer."

Sakura smiled and shrugged. "Mizukage-sama did an excellent job pleading my case."

Tsunade smirked a little as she poked at the lunch Sakura had brought her with one hand and held up the report to read with the other. The door of the office was shut and barred and the guards outside had been instructed to announce every visitor before allowing anyone inside no matter who they were. "She's a good one to have on your side," the woman agreed. After a while longer she lifted her eyes to her apprentice. "That bodyguard of hers is a wealth of knowledge. Can you confirm any of this?"

Sakura lifted her hands in surrender. "Not with any of our texts, but he's made a career of extracting kekkei genkai. I'm not equipped to argue with that kind of experience."

"Nor am I," the blond admitted with a frown. She dropped her chop sticks and began sorting through the papers with both hands and renewed earnest. "So, how did you like him?"

"Honestly? If I ever have to see him or Water Country again, it'll be too soon."

Tsunade grinned impishly. "I don't know about that," she said. "Mei certainly likes you and that never hurts in diplomatic endeavors. You might just find yourself wearing yet another hat. Gods know that Naruto could use someone with that sort of connection when he gets into office."

Sakura hummed noncommittally at this and started to pick at her own lunch.

It was always strange to her, even after it had become more or less an inevitable fact, to think of Naruto as becoming the next Hokage. He would always be _Naruto_ to her and there was nothing the hat and robe of office could do to sully that. No matter his position in the world, he would always be the boy she had grown up with, the one that she had experienced some of her greatest triumphs and worst defeats alongside.

"How close do you think he is?"

Tsunade didn't look up again from the papers. "He's getting there."

Sakura lifted her eyes finally from her meal to consider her mistress and then began to frown a little. "Shishou?"

"Hm?"

"For all the times we've talked about Naruto taking your place, I don't think you've ever mentioned what you're going to do when you retire."

"What?" The woman looked up at that and frowned. "I thought that was obvious."

"Um… no?"

Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Honestly? Tch, I did not spend all of these years whipping the hospital into shape just for someone else to be appointed administrator and let the discipline go slack. When that brat finally takes over all of this—" She waggled both hands at the stacks of papers piling up on either side of her bureau—"I'll be able to really knuckle down and get things done at the hospital."

Sakura relaxed visibly and hid her smile. "Oh."

The older woman gave her the fish eye as she took a swig of sake. "You thought I'd leave?"

"It crossed my mind."

Their gazes met over the desk and Tsunade huffed before turning back to the report. "You all aren't that lucky, I'm afraid," she said tersely.

Sakura didn't bother hiding her smile this time.

They spent a few hours like that, only interrupted by the few times that the guards stepped in to announce Shizune bringing tea or the counselors demanding a meeting. It was easy to guess who was allowed entry and who was told to go find a nice, heavy wagon to lie under.

It was times like this that Sakura really found herself in awe of her mentor. As the woman was usually drowning in a sea of village-related paperwork, to the extent that even her presence at the hospital was rare, it was easy to forget that she was _still_ the greatest medical mind in the ninja world. She breezed through the documents at an alarming pace; marking sections with a pen, making quiet, thoughtful little noises, and then at the end of it all sitting back and closing her eyes.

Sakura waited patiently for a response, picking at her food idly and chewing thoughtfully as she mulled the situation. She would have been reading still herself if Tsunade hadn't taken her pages away to skim as well.

"What are you conclusions?" the woman asked suddenly. "You only have bits and pieces written down."

The pinkette straightened a little. "It's what we thought. The Sharingan and the Byakugan are basically the same in structure: chakra is piped through the pathways piggybacking the optic nerves into the eyes and activates the bloodline limit. The major difference is that the Byakugan requires one steady stream of chakra. Over extended periods of time, this can cause strain, but usually no lasting damage. The Sharingan works the same way when initially activated, but whenever a technique is used—especially the Mangekyou—a sudden burst of chakra floods the pathway to allow it and damages the surrounding nerve tissue. It's just a flaw in the design. Healing takes care of the surface damage, but it can't turn back time and restore the original strength of the nerves."

"Go on," Tsunade prompted, scribbling notes in the margins of Sakura's pages.

"I was thinking about what you did to heal Lee back when we were genin. It would just be on a smaller scale."

The woman paused at this and frowned. "It's… possible." She dropped her pen and sat back, folding her arms. "It would restore the integrity of the nerves with, in this case, very little risk. It won't prevent more damage from happening, though."

"No, but that's where a seal would come in." Sakura smiled when her mentor's eyebrow lifted. "If you applied a barrier seal meant to protect the nerves, it'd stop those bursts from causing further corrosion."

"Mm, one little problem: that seal would have to be specially made. No such thing exists for a medical purpose," Tsunade replied.

The pinkette shrugged. "I'm willing to do all of the necessary work in constructing the seal. I know it's possible, I just don't know how to go about it yet. I need better sources. Ao gave me a few ideas with his information, but that's not enough right now. Isn't there anyone in the village who might _maybe_ have information of interest that you didn't mention before?"

Her mentor sighed and rubbed at her forehead. "I'll look into it and let you know what I find. Now there's just the matter of who is performing this little operation."

Sakura frowned. "Kakashi will probably only agree if you performed it, Shishou. I can't see passing this off to any of the other medics at the hospital. None of them have any experience with the Sharingan and—"

"I was thinking about you, Sakura."

The medic sat bolt-upright at this. "Me?" she repeated. "No, no, no."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

Sakura gaped at her like a fish. "I've never done anything that delicate before," she protested, fumbling for something valid in the face of the fact that she couldn't tell the woman the truth. "I mean, what if I mess up?"

"From the sound of it, it would just be a matter of releasing the seal and starting anew," Tsunade replied.

"I don't know the technique you used to help Lee."

The blond waved a dismissive hand. "It's nothing you can't learn in an afternoon," she scoffed. "Sakura, this is your baby."

"I'm more than happy to share."

Tsunade smiled, which caught her panicking student off-guard. "I'll be there to assist you," she said calmly. "But you need to finish what you've started with this. You can't do all of this work and then drop out of it at the last second."

"Shi—"

"Your Hokage has spoken," the woman cut her off with a clap of her hands. "You will perform the operation. Consider it an evaluation of sorts."

Sakura groaned. "Can't you just give me one of those stupid timed tests? Or look at my records?"

Tsunade gave her a bored look. "Don't you have rounds?"

* * *

"Took you long enough!"

Sakura raised an eyebrow at Kiba, who had vaulted over the back of her couch to stand directly in front of her as she stepped through the front door of her house. "It's nice to see you too, Kiba," she replied blandly.

"Where were you?" he demanded. "You're supposed to be here!"

She raised an eyebrow. Kiba was, on any day, easily as hyperactive and hot-blooded as Naruto, but he was never this _obnoxious_, especially not with her. "I'm good, how are you? Just back from a mission given the smell coming off of you and the state Akamaru's coat was in. Thanks, by the way, for leaving him on the porch. I don't mind the hair around the house, but I could do without the muddy paw prints all over the floor."

Kiba growled. "Are you listening to me?"

"Am I listening to you yelling at me in _my_ house?" she snapped back. "Yeah, I'm listening to you and I'm ready to put you through a wall!"

"Sakura."

She looked up sharply to the kitchen doorway where Aburame Shino stood, propped against the door frame. "Oh, Shino," she said with some relief. "I'm glad to see you. Can you tell me what he's going on about?"

The Aburame ducked his chin deeper into his collar. "Come."

With that he turned away and Sakura followed him, shoving her grocery bags into Kiba's arms as she went.

"Oh, Hinata!"

The Hyuuga girl ducked her head so that the curtain of her dark hair fell forward to hide her face. She was sitting poised on the edge of the cot in the laundry room, worrying the cloth of her sleeves between her fingers. "I'm so sorry, Sakura," she said with forced lightness. "I'm being a bother."

"No, you're not!" Sakura insisted. "What's—Hinata, I'm over here."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," the Hyuuga replied, her eyes shifting to Sakura's general direction.

The medic glanced at Shino. "She overworked herself?" she asked.

The Aburame nodded. "Against our best efforts to stop her."

Sakura nodded and approached Hinata to touch her on the shoulder. "Go ahead and lay back," she said, fingers at the girl's neck to check her pulse. "I need to assess the rest of your system to make sure that the strain on your chakra hasn't damaged anything."

Hinata nodded and moved to carefully lie back in the cot.

Kiba appeared in the doorway and leaned in the frame, eyes fixated on Sakura as the medic moved about the room, removing a vial of something from the drawer along with a packaged syringe and needle. "What are you doing?" he asked with some venom.

"Kiba, please," Hinata pleaded gently. "I'm okay."

"It's an anti-inflammatory," Sakura replied plainly. "It'll take care of the pain."

"Pain?" the Inuzuka chirped and even Shino straightened at this. "Hinata! You didn't say anything about bein' in pain!'

Hinata glanced to the side, apparently hoping that no one was there. "I didn't want to worry you. Besides, it isn't unbearable," she murmured. She turned her head a little. "Sakura, how could you tell?"

Sakura scoffed and then pulled the cap off the syringe with her teeth. "Please. Kakashi can get his arm nearly torn clean off and then turn around and tell me that he didn't feel a thing," she replied. "I've just gotten really good at reading the signals. You're better than most at hiding it, by the way."

The Hyuuga heiress offered a small smile at this and sighed as the medic rolled up her sleeve. "Just a little prick," she murmured before she pressed the needle into the girl's skin and pushed the plunger down. She added in a more conspiring tone as she withdrew the needle, "That's what she said."

Hinata frowned prettily. "I don't understand," she murmured.

"You will, just let that drug take effect," Sakura replied offhandedly as she got up and disposed of the syringe. "Now, if you start to feel sleepy, don't fight it. You'll be here until I get your eyes under control, so you might as well rest while you're occupied." She looked to Shino then and then away as she moved to retrieve a blanket from one of the cupboards, which she threw gently over the young woman's body. "How did the mission go?"

Shino didn't move, didn't flinch, didn't even look at her (as far as she could tell). "All objectives were completed as directed."

"That'll please Tsunade-sama," Sakura replied, tucking the blanket in around Hinata's feet and arms.

"What are you doing?"

The medic exhaled heavily through her nose and looked to Kiba. "This painkiller sometimes gives people the chills," she replied. "Are you going to question _everything_ I do?"

"If _everything_ you do takes this long, _yeah_," he replied.

Sakura's mouth twisted in a scowl and she glanced meaningfully at Shino, knowing that an Aburame better than anyone would understand what "I might have to hurt him" looked like in unspoken terms.

Shino nodded and said nothing.

She wasn't entirely sure if this was a mere acknowledgement or _consent_, but she fancied that it was the latter as she moved again to the cabinets to retrieve a bottle of eye drops. She delivered them, one drop a piece, to Hinata's eyes and then set the bottle aside.

Suddenly Hinata burst into a fit of giggles. "You're terrible," she whispered, a hand freeing itself from the confines of her blanket to cover her mouth and stifle the sound.

Sakura smiled. "A little bedside humor never hurt anyone."

* * *

At some point, Kiba's impatience finally wore Sakura's rapidly thinning nerves bare and Shino was forced to drag the Inuzuka from the room before the medic launched him through the back wall. This left the two girls alone as the healing went on.

"I'd lecture you on straining yourself to fill the silence," Sakura began after nearly an hour of quiet had passed between them, "But I know I don't need to."

Hinata pinked a little. Sakura sat at the head of the cot on her wheeled stool with her hands poised at the Hyuuga's temples. "I know," she said. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop that. You're no trouble at all," she insisted. "I just don't understand. You're usually one of the only people I can trust to take care of yourself on missions. It's usually Kiba who comes in with some weird injury or being dragged by Akamaru because he wasted all of his chakra. Hell, I'd sooner expect this out of Hanabi."

The heiress sighed miserably. "I know. I feel like a genin all over again. Poor Shino-kun had to carry me home. I can't remember the last time I had to have one of the boys carry me anywhere."

"Well, with it being Shino, he wouldn't have carried you if he had minded." Sakura smiled gently. "So what prompted this?"

Hinata squeezed her eyes shut. "I have been so busy with clan business that it's been at least two months since I've been on a mission with Shino-kun and Kiba-kun," she murmured. "I suppose I felt like I had to make up for something." She sighed and then rolled her eyes. "All I managed to do was remind them of how much of a burden I can be."

Sakura scoffed. "Hey, hey, hey," she cut in. "Only when you have sunk lower than me in my genin days may you call yourself a true burden."

"Oh, Sakura. That was years ago."

"Time doesn't touch failure like that."

Hinata allowed herself to laugh at this and she smiled at the medic. "Thank you."

Sakura smiled back. "You don't have anything to prove anymore, Hinata," she said, "Especially not to Kiba and Shino."

The heiress nodded and then frowned and lifted one of her hands to examine it. The girls simultaneously rolled their eyes at the little black bug currently occupying Hinata's pinkie.

"You know what?"

"Hm?"

"I'll take three teammates with tenuous grasps on basic social protocol over two who can't butt-out of a conversation—I know you're listening too, Kiba!"

* * *

"So, no hard feelings?"

Sakura eyed Kiba.

The Inuzuka sighed and threw his hands up. "All right, I was an ass! I'm sorry! But in my defense, Hinata scared the shit out of me. She's never had that problem before!"

"Do not blame Hinata for your behavior."

Shino sounded cross. He was seated at the kitchen table with Ino, the two of them discussing a recent invasion of the Yamanaka greenhouse by white spiders. The blonde had arrived just as Kiba had started his apologies and had settled herself in immediately, apparently giddy at the thought of watching the boisterous Inuzuka squirm. (No one but Ino could so seamlessly balance leading a conversation with one person and listening in on a completely different conversation all at the same time without missing a beat.)

"I'm not!" Kiba shot Shino a damning look and then faced Sakura again. "C'mon," he coaxed. "I know you. You don't want to be mad at me."

And he was totally right, but she had a point to make. "I'm curious, Kiba. How much training do you have as a medic?"

He groaned. "None."

"And that puts you in what position to get tetchy with me?"

Kiba released an annoyed huff of air through his nose. "I am no position to get tetchy with you, oh great and powerful healer," he said. At her glare, he threw his hands in exasperation. "None! I already apologized and now you're just milking it!"

"Damn right I am," Sakura said, stabbing a finger into his chest. "I understand that you were worried, but there's concern for your teammate and then there's just good old-fashioned rudeness."

He nodded in understanding then with cheesy, inviting grin opened his arms to her. "Friends?" he asked as he stepped forward.

Sakura blocked him with a hand. "If you ever talk to me like that again I'll tie you in a knot. Understood?"

Kiba visibly deflated. "Way to kill the moment."

The medic patted him on the head and then ducked around him to return to the laundry room and check on Hinata, who had dozed off during the healing.

* * *

When Team Eight had gone, Ino had forced Sakura back into her coat and outside again for a walk.

Sakura hadn't had the heart to tell her that she had gotten her fill of cold, uninviting weather while wandering around the harbor in Water Country (where there had been an added bonus of near constant drizzle), so she let herself be dragged down the street to the market, which was crowded with people despite the chill in the air.

In a way, she was grateful for the little excursion. It seemed that she was always home and if not home then at the hospital or at the Tower and if not there then in a different country all together. Cold or not, she was glad to be out and about in her own village, breathing the familiar smells of the local foods, and shuffling along with crowds of familiar faces while Ino caught her up on all of the local gossip she had missed.

There was no purpose to this walk other than the sake of walking. She glanced at Ino and smiled. "I've missed hanging out with you," she said at the blond's questioning look.

Ino stared at her for a moment and then smiled and linked her arm with Sakura's. "Me too. Shoes!"

She was off like a shot and Sakura couldn't help but laugh and follow her as the blond darted through the crowd to stand at a shop window.

It was when Sakura reached her friend that a familiar flash of silver caught her eye and she smiled when she saw Kakashi across the street, reading and casually dodging passerby without even looking up.

The man was unbelievable.

Then, suddenly he looked up and their eyes met. He rubbed his nose at her questioning look.

Completely. Unbelievable.

She smiled broadly despite herself, blocking out Ino's excited squealing about the winter fashions that had finally arrived.

Kakashi had backed up again a shop wall and then signed something to her, his hands moving in graceful, practiced flicks of his fingers and wrist.

_How's it going?_

She glanced back at Ino, who had her nose up against the glass. She signed back: _Good._

She looked at Ino again and remembered what Kakashi had told her earlier. He had planned on coming back to her place. She made a face. That must have been where he was headed right now. _Join you?_

Kakashi shook his head, tapped his temple, pointed, and then tapped his wrist. _See you later._ He twirled one finger in a celebratory fashion with absolutely no enthusiasm, making her laugh. _Have fun._

She glanced at Ino again, who was still distracted, and then turned again to the Copy-nin. Realizing that there wasn't a sign for what she wanted to convey she simply smiled, pressed her fingertips to her lips, and then waved.

Ino was suddenly at her side again and Kakashi was suddenly gone, in the blink of an eye. "What are you doing?" the blond questioned, sounding sly.

Sakura smiled at her. "Just waving to one of my boys."

"Ugh," the blond groaned. "I'm shocked they didn't come over here and scoop you up."

The medic laughed but said nothing.

* * *

"When did you learn how to dance?"

It was random. It was silly. It was almost one o'clock in the morning and Sakura and Kakashi were dancing together in her kitchen with the shades drawn closed, tea things and notes scattered and forgotten on the kitchen table.

"Mah, I can't really say." He squinted thoughtfully at the ceiling. "It's just something I picked up."

Sakura threw her head back and laughed when he dipped her backwards. "Well, for the record it's kind of really hot."

"Really?" Kakashi sounded genuinely surprised.

She grinned as he pulled her up and then twirled her. "Duh?" she replied. "You enjoy watching women dance, don't you?"

He coughed. "I don't know if I'm entirely comfortable answering that."

She broke into another fit of laughter as her hand settled again on his shoulder. "It's the same thing," she assured him.

Kakashi seemed to mull this over as they continued tracing circles around the kitchen together, the signal on her little countertop radio occasionally fading in and out but neither of them particularly caring. "So," he began thoughtfully, arching an eyebrow at her, "When we danced together on that last mission?"

"Mm, it was hot then too," she confirmed.

"Really?"

His breath tickled against her temple and she smiled and tipped her head up to press her nose into his collar bone. "Yes."

"Good to know."

He twirled her again and Sakura giggled, spinning easily on the ball of one stocking-clad foot and then bending backwards, holding his wrist for support.

"When did you learn to dance?" Kakashi asked conversationally even as he tipped his head to follow her movement.

She held that position for a moment as she thought the question over, jumping a little when she felt his hand suddenly slide out of hers and catch her around the waist. His palm pressed into the very base of her spine, well into territory she would have smacked Naruto—or anyone else, actually—for trespassing upon and when she straightened, her chest met his. She smiled shyly and placed her hands tentatively on his shoulders.

"The girls and I taught ourselves," she said finally. "We were on a mission in the Capital, posing as some guests at a fancy party and we taught ourselves a few dances beforehand so we wouldn't look completely out of place." She paused and then added, with a laugh, "Anko was with us. It was hilarious."

Kakashi grinned lopsidedly at her. "I bet."

Sakura let her head come to rest against his shoulder as they started to dance again, their pace much lazier as her arms slid up to wrap around his neck and he folded his around her waist.

"I talked to Tsunade-sama a few days ago."

She cringed as the words leapt from her mouth. Since Tsunade's decision to make _her_ do the operation, she had been fretting over all of the "maybes" and "might happens" if she messed up. Consequently, she had been struggling with how exactly to tell him. Needless to say, bringing this up in the middle of a really great date had been somewhere at the bottom of her barrel of options.

"Anything interesting?"

"We talked about your Sharingan."

She felt him smile into her hair. "So that's a no?"

Sakura laughed despite herself and pulled back to look at him, her smile fading gradually into a firm line. "She's decided that I should perform the operation to fix it."

Kakashi frowned too. "I thought that that was the plan from the beginning."

"Not _my_ plan," she scoffed. "I was going to let Tsunade-sama do the actual fixing. I especially want her to now."

He stopped and so did she. "Why?"

The medic sighed and shook her head. "If I mess up and hurt your eye instead of help it, you'll hate me."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "Will I?"

"Don't patronize me."

"I'm not, I just wasn't aware that I'd hate you for something that I've been expecting to happen anyway for the last several years here." He shrugged. "That's good to know, I suppose. I hate being misinformed."

She glowered at him. "Not funny."

He looked heavenward in that way that made her feel like a genin again and then in one motion lifted her up under the arms, turned, and plopped her onto the nearest counter top.

She bristled indignantly. "Okay, by definition, to patronize someone means to—"

Kakashi placed one hand at the back of her neck and then molded his mouth to hers, effectively cutting her off. She might have protested this as well if it hadn't felt so damn nice. Deciding that this was a battle that couldn't be won—and who was really up for a fight at this hour anyway?—she twisted the bottom hem of his sweater in both fists and pulled him closer, letting her toes trace the backs of his knees.

He parted several very prolonged moments later, his free hand resting dangerously high on her thigh and his eyes hazy. "Sakura," he began, his voice low and doing strange things that Sakura wasn't really sure a voice should be able to do, "I trust you with my life on a pretty regular basis. I trust you with this too."

"You didn't even think I'd figure it out," she protested.

Kakashi smiled. "I didn't think that there was an answer. I never doubted that you'd find it if there was, though." He combed his fingers through her hair and then kissed her again, just barely letting his lips skim against hers. "If you operate and something bad happens, I'll know that there wasn't anyone who could have saved my Sharingan. Okay?"

Sakura let out a slow breath and nodded, leaning forward to press her forehead against his. "Sweet talker," she murmured.

He let out an amused hum against her cheek as he pressed a kiss there next.

"So, was it really necessary to put me on the counter?"

"Mm, it's easier to talk when we're eye-to-eye."

"So it had nothing to do with the fact that my skirt rides up when I sit down?"

"I didn't say that it didn't have any nice secondary purposes."

* * *

1. Trust me guys, no one hates these damned gaps in between updates more than I do. Especially when we're drawing so close to the end. That said: I've missed you all so much!

2. As you all might have guessed, life has not been conducive to writing lately. But enough complaining, let's move onto the sexy chapter-related things.

3. Which include more whining. Actually, no. For as much as I feel like I shouldn't like this chapter and for as sloppy as I think it is, I do actually really like it. A pet peeve of mine when it comes to romance (in fanfiction or otherwise) is that when the first "I love you" is dropped, they suddenly become the centers of each others' worlds and have absolutely no life apart from the other. I wanted to very intentionally avoid that here.

4. I'm tempted to make a Twilight joke. I'll refrain because that feels too easy.

5. ... Screw it. Twilight is one of the most egregious offenders when it comes to the whole "centers of each others' universes" bullshit and it's just one of the many, many, many, many, many things that pisses me off about that damned stupid...

6. Note 5 was edited by much more level-heads in order to protect readers from a truly epic string of curse words in Black Speech, Parseltongue, and Pirate.

7. Mm, yes I must sharpen my machete, those damn moral guardians have gotten harder to... o hai! (Does machete humor EVER get old?)

8. The last bit is absolutely mindlessly indulgent fluff and nothing else. I just couldn't resist.

9. Why yes, these notes ARE pointlessly meandering. So, let's get back onto topic. Oor near topic? Actually, let's just answer a question that quite a few of you have asked: House Calls has gotten a much bigger response than I could have ever imagined and many of you have asked if I read ALL of the reviews I get. The answer is YES. Every one of them. I am so grateful to you people who take time out of your lives to drop me love notes and I take great pleasure in reading every last one of them and responding to as many as I can.

10. Expect to hear some variant of the above again by the end of this thing.

**Notsosubtlesegue-Speaking of reviews, I'd love to hear from you guys! Also, I'm warning everyone now (and I will do so again) that there will be mild smut next chapter. Mild smut because we're not going crazy monkey wild here, that's just not in me as a writer, but there will be some smut nevertheless.**


	38. In Which There is Love in Ink

**House Calls  
**

**Chapter 38  
**

**Note:** Oh dear Lord in heaven, I'm back! Although I don't know if it really counts as being back when I believe I said that last chapter too. Bah. Anyway. Important notes and such at the bottom, makes sure you give them a skim.

Enjoy!

* * *

Kakashi watched as Sakura painted her toe nails with the same careful precision she used when saving someone's life. She had her foot propped on the edge of the coffee table and despite the chill outside, as it was now officially well into winter, she was wearing one of Sai's ancient black half-shirts with a pair of snug shorts.

Empty take-out cartons and plates were scattered on coffee table. Dinner had consisted of a little bit of everything taken off the menu at the new sushi bar downtown because he had ordered with feeble hopes of luring her away from her research. If Sai was to be believed, she had been buried in her books for the last week while he was away on a mission. The truth was that she had been buried in them since returning from Mist two months ago.

"How's that?"

She offered one lean leg out to him, stretching it straight out and pointing her delicate feet to show off her handiwork.

Kakashi allowed himself to be distracted by the arc of her sole and the slender, shapely curves and dips of her ankles and calves before actually inspecting the white lacquer she had coated her nails with. He smiled. "Very pretty," he agreed.

Sakura raised a slender eyebrow at him and slumped back into the couch, frowning. "I know that look," she said. "What's wrong?"

To avoid answering, he openly admired the way her green eyes lit up with curiosity and that demanding, petulant gleam. He smiled faintly. Her hair was pulled up, allowing only a few strands to escape and frame her face and he reached out to run one lock between his fingers. "What are you doing with an old man like me?" he wondered aloud.

Sakura's expression softened and she smiled too. "I like older men," she replied simply. "They're sexy."

Kakashi eyed her doubtfully. "Is that right?"

"It has long term benefits too," she said. "The older you get, the sexier I'll think you are."

He contemplated the ceiling. "So I'm sexier now at thirty-four than I was at thirty-three?"

Sakura stared at him for a moment and slapped a palm to her forehead. "Kakashi!" she snapped. "Why didn't you remind me? Your birthday was, like, three months ago now!"

He blinked. "I honestly didn't think about it, Sakura," he said. "I prefer not to make a big deal about it either."

She sighed. "Did we do _anything_ at least?"

"We had lunch at the lake."

"That's it?"

"You gave me a hickey."

Sakura turned pink to match her hair. "Sorry."

"Well, as far as birthday presents go, it's the best I've gotten in a long time."

She smiled shyly and lifted a hand to tuck a stray bit of hair behind her ear, gestures that drove him completely crazy on the inside. Being old-fashioned was _hard_. "Well, next year we'll have to do something special," she said.

His head felt light. He had never planned in advanced for anything—a ninja's life just didn't work like that that—but he found himself suddenly looking forward to the idea. Mostly, however, he was just thrilled that she planned on being around that long.

"So, what did you say was wrong?"

Kakashi found himself smirking at the ceiling. Gods, he really loved this woman. Maybe it was counter-intuitive for him to be enamored with someone who didn't let him to get away with anything, but he truly adored it. It just wouldn't be fun if she made things easy. And what was he to do? Complain that his girlfriend was beautiful _and_ smart _and_ terrifying? Hardly. "I didn't say anything," he replied, intentionally baiting her.

Sakura looked enlightened. "Oh, that's right, because you were _avoiding_ the question," she retorted. She reached over with her foot to nudge his shoulder and he caught her ankle, taking it captive to pull her across the couch, ignoring her indignant squawks about her still wet toenails as she flailed.

She ended up sprawled on the couch, her legs stretched across his lap with both feet daintily lifted to preserve her work and her shirt riding up a few more delightful inches. She eyed him, perturbed. "Hatake Kakashi, you seem to have picked up this terrible habit of man-handling me."

"Think of it as being portable."

Sakura laughed, all angry pretenses dropping, and accepted the hand he offered to help her sit up. However, she simply pulled him over on top of her, forcing a laugh out of him as he caught himself on his forearms. She grinned and he felt her foot slide up his back. _Gods_, he wished that she wouldn't do that kind of stuff when he was being so _good_ and resisting all of his urges to pin her to various surfaces and muss her usually perfectly kempt appearance. This was no small task either. It had been a while for him and he had never wanted anyone like he wanted her.

"Tell me what's on your mind," she murmured, tracing her index finger down and then up his jaw.

"So persistent."

"Mm, tell me."

"I like that about you."

"Tell me."

"It's really quite—"

Sakura suddenly slipped one of her legs between his and then with a buck of her hips, the leverage of her arms, and a heave, Kakashi hit the ground between the couch and the coffee table with a grunt and she was sitting on him. "—Fetching," he finished with a miserable groan.

She leaned forward, propping herself on his chest. "Tell me," she said again.

He sighed happily. He really, _really_ loved this woman. "We haven't talked about when and what we'll tell the others."

She froze at this and her brows furrowed a little with thought. "No, we haven't," she agreed. "I… guess I figured we kind of already had this discussion."

Kakashi shrugged and looked to her. "Things have changed a little since then," he murmured.

A little. She smiled appreciatively at the wry understatement. "All right." She sat up a little bit and so did he, twisting a little to prop himself against the couch without throwing her off. "I want to tell the others about us. Eventually."

"I think that's a bit unavoidable," he replied.

Sakura laughed a little and nodded. "Right."

He sighed and laid his head back again to stare at the ceiling, his neck craned over the edge of the sofa cushion. "I'm a private person. You know that."

"I do indeed."

"So of course, I'd rather never tell them."

She snorted in amusement. "Of course."

Kakashi groaned and rubbed a hand over his face. "This is your fault."

"My fault?" she demanded, indignant. "How is it my fault?"

"Nobody cares what I do or who I do it with," he replied.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're right. It's all totally my fault."

"Agreed."

She pinched his chest in reprimand. "Why is it even a problem?" she asked. "We're together. What would that matter to anyone else? Sure, people will gossip about the age thing and the student thing, but they gossip about everyone in this village. It's the greatest pastime of Konoha."

"We're teammates," he replied. "You're my subordinate. Technically."

Sakura shrugged. "Then we'll take missions together and prove that it's not a problem."

Kakashi sighed and sat up a little straighter. "I already thought of that," he muttered, pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezing his eyes. "Taking a mission together under any circumstance that might endanger the desired outcome is against the laws. The Council would take that far worse than the idea of two teammates seeing each other and Tsunade would probably skin us alive."

"Can't argue with that," she murmured, deflating a little. "Well, we don't have to figure this out now."

"You sure?"

Sakura smiled. "Hey, it's no one's business but ours," she said. "And we both agreed that we have to do it eventually, but no one said anything about _now_. We'll just be careful about the mission thing and mind our manners in the mean time so we don't give anyone any reason to object."

This put Kakashi at ease, even though he could tell she wasn't entirely happy. Soon, he told himself. Everyone else would find out soon. He just wanted this to himself for a little longer, before anyone else had any reason to pry and poke into their business.

* * *

Despite how much she wanted to, Sakura did _not_ throw herself on the floor in protest when she had to shuffle some paperwork around and assign herself to an outpost run at the same time that Team Seven was assigned a mission. Tsunade had frowned at this very basic scheduling mistake, which was so unlike her office of trained monkeys, but said nothing and simply assigned Ino to aid the boys on the mission—Sakura's outpost visits were too crucial at this time of the year to delay them.

Kakashi had kissed her before departing, promising to let her have the next mission.

Which didn't make Naruto's disappointment any easier to take. It had been so long since they had had any time together as Tsunade's workload for him was ever increasing and keeping him tethered to the village while her work at the hospital, at home, and at the outposts kept her running from place to place all too frequently.

There was, however, one good thing to come of this.

"Yamato!" she exclaimed. She had been waiting at the gate for her mission partner for some fifteen minutes, having opted to arrive early.

The captain smiled as he approached. "I heard I have a medic to escort to an outpost," he said. "Have you seen her?"

She laughed. "You never come by to see me," she accused.

"Yes, I have," he argued. "You just weren't around at the time."

Sakura punched him gently in the shoulder and smiled as his mock expression of hurt. "I hope you've been doing well."

Yamato nodded. "Very. Things are pretty slow—not that I'm about complain about that—so I thought I'd lend a hand outside of ANBU. Where are we off to? I recall something about an outpost check, but that seems a little mundane for you."

"Not when the outpost is on the border of Rain."

"_Ah_. Well, this should be exciting."

* * *

It wasn't. Even the fighting, and there had been quite a bit of it, was rather uninvolving except for when Sakura drilled an enemy ninja so hard into the ground that he left an imprint of himself behind and Yamato managed to turn three others into oaks. Actually _that_ had actually been absolutely _fascinating_ to witness and she had to quiet a part of her that wanted to see him do it again, but slower so she could observe. She really needed to stop referencing Kabuto's notes so regularly.

"So, how's ANBU treating you?" Sakura asked. It was mid-afternoon and they were on their way back to Konoha, having stopped to rest their limbs and choke down some rations before going on.

Yamato was seated on the branch beside her. Above them, he had arranged a few branches to shelter them from the icy cold rain falling down around them. "It's lonely," he concluded. He looked to her and his lips lifted in a small smile. "I rather miss Team Seven."

"You're welcomed back any time, you know," she said. "I don't know why you even left."

He looked down at his rations bar, the unappetizing block of vitamins and proteins wrapped loosely in cloth. "You hardly seemed to need me," he replied. "It just seemed… natural to go back to ANBU."

"Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai hardly need anyone," the medic argued with a knowing look shot his way.

Yamato raised an eyebrow. "And you? Not just anyone is invited into ANBU."

Sakura pinked a little at this and threw him a grateful smile. "Thanks, but what good is a medic without patients? You should come back to Team Seven. We're going to be one short of a four-man cell in the near future anyway."

"Oh yeah? Whose death are you plotting and what'd they do?"

She laughed. "It's nothing like that. Tsunade's been grooming Naruto to take over after she retires and by the way she talks it sounds like it might happen soon."

The man's ever-solemn expression actually brightened at this. "Really? Wow, it's hard to picture, isn't it?"

"I've seen it for years," she replied with a contented smile. "But don't spread it around because nothing's official. You ANBU are terrible gossips."

"Hey!"

"Don't play dumb," Sakura chastised. "Kakashi found out that I was invited to ANBU one way or another before I could tell him and the only people privy to that conversation were Ibiki and I and every spook listening at his door."

Yamato had the decency to color at this. "Sorry," he said. "I was just… worried about you, I suppose. ANBU is…"

He trailed off, but there was a weight to his words that Sakura knew well. It was the same weight she saw flash in Kakashi's eyes every now and then when the past swept him up and the weight she imagined crushing Sai when she found him moody amidst a collection of half-finished, half-ruined paintings. "Yeah, I know."

* * *

Time seemed to crawl in the winter and everything seemed so much more desperate as the gray days began to pile up. Winter missions were always harder, always worse for some reason. Sakura blamed the sun. Where was it when she needed it?

At least her boys were home, safe and healthy.

"I hate laundry day," Naruto muttered obstinately as he lounged in the armchair, wearing a pair of particularly garish orange boxers and nothing else.

Sakura rolled her eyes. She had her hair up and was wearing a bandeau and a pair of skimpy shorts—the only things in her drawer that had been clean. "I bet I hate it more than you," she replied. "I could just do my laundry but you and Sai always have to put your laundry off and then give me those puppy eyes of yours."

Neither of them argued.

Sai was just in boxers too—standard issue, to her deeply sarcastic surprise—and sitting with his back to the arm of the couch while holding his brush in one hand and Sakura's right foot in the other. For the most part, she didn't feel the strokes of wet ink making their way up her calf, but every now and then she felt it tickle her ankle and she squirmed, which always earned an annoyed pout from the ex-ROOT operative.

Naruto turned his head to watch them. The right side of his chest, from the waist of his boxers up his ribs and across one pectoral and down one shoulder, depicted a mesh of sharp, twisting lines that camouflaged the shapes of various animals. Sakura had already spied a dragon, a falcon, and a fish.

She was also annoyed. It had taken Sai all of twenty minutes to turn half of Naruto into a mural, but her calf by itself was taking almost an hour? "Sai, how exactly does an artist run out of canvas?" she wondered, knowing it was futile to complain about the time he was taking and opting instead to complain about the only other thing at her disposal.

He hummed. "I have run out of paper," he said, correcting her. "As you can see, I have yet to run out of canvas. You and Naruto are sufficient for my purposes."

"Your purposes being boredom?" Naruto guessed with a grin.

Sai smiled. "Yes." He tapped his brush on the edge of the ink well and set it aside. "I have finished," he said. "How do you like it?"

Sakura lifted her leg, straightening it and pointing her toe to the ceiling to inspect the work and Naruto, very maturely, whistled at her. She shot him a scowl and ran a tentative finger over the ink, finding it already dry to the touch. The design was intricate and pretty, with flowers blooming from the many swirls and curls that ran up and down her skin, which were slender and rounded rather than the harsh, sharpened lines that marked Naruto.

"It's pretty," she concluded.

"I like it," Naruto added with a grin.

She rolled her eyes. "Well, get your fill of it right now, because I'm washing it off tonight. I can't report to the hospital like this."

The ex-ROOT operative hummed next to her. "Actually, given the ink I'm using, it would be more likely that you will have to wait for it to naturally wear off."

Sakura sat up abruptly, as did Naruto. "You used permanent ink?" she demanded.

"It is not permanent," he scoffed, as if that had been a stupid accusation and she was lucky that he was dignifying it with an answer. "It settles into the skin and cannot be washed away by typical methods. The solvent required to remove it is quite toxic and—"

Sakura whipped her painted leg out of Sai's lap and launched herself at him with a pillow in hand. They tumbled together over the arm of the couch and onto the floor and it wasn't long before Naruto joined in, pinning Sai easily as Sakura hit him with a pillow.

"You might have mentioned that!" Sakura scolded.

"Then you would not have allowed me to do it."

Sai easily reversed Naruto's hold and just as he managed to press the blond into the floor in a half-nelson, he blocked another hit from the pillow. Sakura retaliated by simply tackling him again. She successfully pinned him this time, pushing him face-first into the floor as she straddled his shoulders and then anchored herself with chakra to prevent being thrown.

* * *

Weirdness was par for the course when it came to his team and while it was possibly a bad sign that Kakashi was not the least bit taken aback by what he had just walked in on, he was willing to let it go. After all, team bonding was important and who was he to say that this wasn't healthy?

"Yo," he greeted to draw their attention.

Sakura glanced up at him and smiled before looking back to the words she was painting just above the waist of Sai's boxers. Naruto was sitting nearby watching and Sai was lying on his stomach and staring quietly at a distant point on the wall. "Hey, Kakashi. Did you need something?" she asked.

Kakashi shrugged. "I was just dropping by," he replied, shrugging out of his vest and hanging up his scarf. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing much."

"Is there any particular reason why you're giving Sai a tramp stamp?"

"Other than for the sake of humor?" Sakura grinned and then finished with a flourish of the brush. "There. You are officially property of Team Seven. Congratulations."

Distantly, Kakashi heard a bell _ding_ and the woman perked at the sound. "That'd be the drier," she said. "I'll be right back. Boys, get started on folding that first load, you've put it off long enough."

She got up and Kakashi's brows lifted at the black ink scrawling up her left leg, which hadn't been apparent before. She flashed him a smile and then trotted off into the kitchen and Naruto stood and stretched. With that movement, Kakashi could see the lines of ink marking his chest and when Sai moved he spotted the—and this was the only appropriate word for it—graffiti painted all over him. From googly eyes added to all of his existing tattoos, Naruto's and Sakura's names scrawled over his ribs, the words "Property of Team Seven" and a return address at the base of his spine, and other more random doodles littering what skin was available, he suspected that this was some sort of retaliation, although he couldn't think for what. He also suspected that the more attractive designs were Naruto's work, as he had some experience with graffiti while Sakura had, to his knowledge, none.

Deciding that he really did not want to know, he shook his head and followed Sakura, his hands in his pockets. Neither of the boys noticed.

"So was there a naked tattoo party I wasn't invited to?" Kakashi wondered as he ambled down the steps from the kitchen into the breezeway where Sakura was emptying the contents of the drier into a laundry basket.

She laughed. "Sorry. Laundry day gets really boring sometimes."

"I see," he replied as he approached. He glanced back at the doorway and then lifted a hand to pull his mask down just far enough to kiss her before replacing it. "Are they going to be here all day?"

"Oh, no," she said. "Naruto was invited over to the Hyuuga compound for dinner and Sai has garden duty at the hospital. They'll be gone once they have clothes to wear."

"What about you?"

"Tsunade-sama has forced a day of rest on me," she replied. "Why else would I be washing all of my clothes at the same time if not to kill some boredom?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and leaned against the washer. "And what'd you do to deserve that?"

Sakura lifted her eyes to the ceiling in a mock show of innocence as she lifted the laundry basket. "I may have maybe worked a few triple shifts at the hospital after getting home from my outpost run," she replied. "Maybe."

"_Sakura_."

She rolled her eyes. "Tsunade-sama has already rubbed my nose in it and I don't need to hear the same from you." She held the laundry basket out to him. "I have another load to put in. Would you take this out to the living room and make sure that the boys are folding the clothes and not throwing them at each other? I've already dealt with one sock war today and lost a lamp to the cause."

He rolled his eyes and nodded, accepting the basket. "All right."

"Thanks, Honey."

For a long moment, Kakashi stared at her, even though she had already turned away to bend over another laundry basket (he considered the view a gift from the gods, especially when her shorts decided to take a small journey north).

Honey.

He had very vague memories of his father calling him one pet name or another, but aside from those blurry recollections this was the first time in his life he had heard such a term of endearment aimed at him. Seized by a strange impulse, he stepped forward and when she straightened with a load of laundry in her arms he leaned in and brushed a masked kiss over her cheek. It just seemed like the thing to do, really, and judging by the smile she shot him, she approved.

"What?" she asked.

Kakashi shook his head and smiled back. "Nothing."

* * *

Naruto and Sai had left together, bickering on their way out the door about something so inconsequential that Sakura had tuned them out long beforehand. She loved them dearly, but she had been listening to it on and off all day and was actually grateful when they had gone. Now she could look forward to a quiet, relaxing evening with Kakashi.

"Gotcha!"

Or something like that anyway.

What had started as a perfectly innocent thumb war and a negative assessment of one of Kakashi's favorite Icha Icha heroes, had escalated into a chase that had covered every room of the house until Sakura managed to knock Kakashi over the back of the couch, only to find herself pinned against the cushions. She laughed and made a token effort to escape.

"You tickle me and I'm going to play your pressure points like a piano," she threatened despite the wide smile on her face.

Kakashi chuckled, his mask having been removed during a scuffle in the kitchen so she could see his straight, white teeth as he did so. "I love alliteration," he replied, lowering himself onto his elbows and sliding his arms under her to hold her against him.

Sakura burst into another fit of laughter and craned her head back to let him kiss her neck. It was then that, as fate would have it, she caught sight of the ink on the coffee table in front of her, Sai's brush innocently resting beside it. She had confiscated it from Sai because if the general shinobi population of Konoha was going to insist on treating her like their maternal figure then she was sure as hell going to act like it.

That didn't mean she wasn't up for some mischief herself and since Kakashi had made it a point earlier of expressing his interest in her "tattoo"…

"Whatever it is, the answer is no," Kakashi said, wisely picking up on the gears whirring to life in his girlfriend's mind and knowing very well what that mind was capable of.

"What if it's a little kinky?"

That "no" suddenly lost a good deal of its force as the look on Kakashi's face gave away his intrigue and Sakura grinned at him.

_Gotcha_, she thought and she could tell it echoed in her expression because he was eyeing her suspiciously. Still, he seemed more intrigued than anything and to make sure that he didn't attempt to worm his way out of this she reached for the hem of his undershirt and slid her hands underneath.

Understandably, the Copy-nin was a little taken aback by this and Sakura could feel her own heart slam radically against her chest. It was the most bold she had been thus far in their courtship and it sent a thrill through her. She kind of liked it and she definitely liked the sound he made when she let her fingertips innocently dip under the waist of his trousers.

Kakashi pulled away and sat back against the arm of the couch to rid himself completely of his shirt. Impulsively, Sakura sat up and scooted closer, standing up on her knees to drop a kiss to one collarbone while tracing her hands over his sides and then up his chest to his shoulders. Something about the thrill of their earlier scuffle and being _allowed_ to admire him opened up a floodgate of not-particularly-pure thoughts. He was a perfect model of the masculine body, like an anatomy chart. The muscles of his shoulders, arms, chest, and abs were all lean and sharply defined, evening out the appearance of lankiness with visible strength. It was no wonder why she couldn't resist him any more than she could breathe underwater.

Sakura smiled at him and then leaned over to grab the brush that Sai had left behind and uncapped the ink well. She dipped the brush inside and then tapped the excess off before shifting closer to Kakashi and leaning into him so she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"Now, that's just not fair," he chastised as she leaned in over his shoulder to survey his back and decide which part of him she wanted to draw on.

"Which is half of the fun," she replied, trying not to squirm when his lips brushed against her shoulder.

Later on, she'd realize how stupid this was. They were in the middle of her living room, both of them now half-naked since she hadn't changed, and even though she was positive that she had locked all of her doors, when was the last time that had stopped anyone from just popping in? Later, she'd also realize that it was all the hotter for this reason and then attempt to suffocate herself with a pillow out of embarrassment.

Her only comfort as she stepped out onto this precarious limb was the heat she could see and feel rising to Kakashi's cheeks, which spread in a very attractive pink flush down his neck and across his shoulders. She even shook when his hands moved, dragging against her skin from her hips up against her sides and around to the back of her shoulders before travelling down again.

"I still think sometimes that we're crazy," he murmured into her skin. "You know that people will talk."

Sakura smiled and pressed the brush to the back of his shoulder, drawing the first thing that came to her mind. "Let them."

Kakashi paused when she finished and offered her a cock-eyed smile. "A heart?" he asked.

"Think of it as a reminder. You seem to need one every now and then."

He chuckled and reached up, twisting his fingers in her hair and pulling her in for a kiss.

Sakura shifted when she felt him pushing her back into the cushions again and muffled a laugh against his lips as he took the brush from her and reached blindly for the ink well. Her laughter quickly died in her throat when she felt his other hand skim down her side, his thumb slipping under the waist of her shorts and smoothing over the skin stretched there over her hip bone. She felt flushed and arched her neck a little when his mouth slipped down her chin to her throat and then her collarbones.

The medic squeezed her eyes shut and took a steadying breath, but jumped at the first touch of cool ink against the hollow of her hip. "Not fair," she whispered.

Kakashi laughed and finished his drawing with a lazy flick of his wrist before casting the brush off onto the coffee table. "That's half of the fun," he retorted.

She opened her mouth to argue but instead inhaled sharply when he blew on her skin, drying the ink and sending a wave of heat through her at the same time. "Kakashi…"

His name, spoken in a tone lost somewhere between a question and a really embarrassing moan, was barely out of her mouth before he was kissing her again and when his weight settled over her, Sakura wrapped her arms and legs around him, pulling him closer.

Sakura trembled when Kakashi made a low noise in the back of his throat and their kisses dissolved in long, probing caresses of lips and tongues.

Before long she found herself being lifted from the couch and something in her throbbed.

This was it.

She picked a spot on his neck to worship as he made his way to the bedroom and then dragged him down onto the bed with her when he laid her onto the comforter, not wanting to let him go or second guess.

A part of her had always expected this to come with a sense of trepidation, but to her own surprise that wasn't the case at all. In fact, she realized that she had never been more certain about anything in her life, because this was Kakashi. He was her constant and she loved him and trusted him with every fiber of her being. Even in their life of uncertainties, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that they belonged together and that this, with him, was _right_.

Kakashi seemed to know this as he stared down at her, supporting himself on his forearms and knees. She lifted a hand to touch his face and her heart raced when he cupped her hand in his and turned his head to kiss her palm and then her wrist. He exhaled heavily against her skin and then twined his fingers with hers and kissed her again.

He was shaking too, she realized while trying to stop her own nervous quivering. It was just the barest, slightest of trembles but she could feel the tenseness in his body. Reflexively, she squeezed his hand and kissed the corner of his mouth. His hand left hers to slide under her waist, pressing into her back to draw her body tighter against his as the other worked into her hair. She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him close.

"Sakura?" he asked, his breath fanning against her ear and his voice an octave lower.

It was really lucky for her, she mused, that she hadn't noticed how distracting his voice was back in the day. Getting turned on whenever he talked would have made things impossibly awkward during the war. She smiled at him and did her best to stifle her amusement, stroking his cheek with the blade of her thumb. "I've…" She stumbled. She knew what he was really asking her and she had no idea how to respond to that. Oh, well. Brutal honesty had always worked in the past. "I've never done this before."

Kakashi didn't seem particularly surprised by this, but his brow furrowed a little.

Sakura pressed her thumb to his lips to silence him before he could even start and giggled. "I'm sure," she said, nearly whispering even though she had no idea why. "I was just…"

She shrugged, but she knew why: it just felt like it had to be said. Because it was important to _her_. He was the one she wanted and this was the only way she knew how to say it in terms that he, a man of action and so few words, would understand beyond any shadow of a doubt. He needed to understand.

And he did. The impossibly tender look in his eyes gave it away. Because he knew her well enough to know what this meant to her—a romantic to her core despite her best efforts to deny it.

Then, and this had happened far too many times in the past for Sakura to be at all surprised by it, the moment was shattered. By the time she heard the front door open, Kakashi was already reacting to it. He pulled her tightly against him and then rolled toward the side of the bed. They hit the floor together, her on his chest.

"Ino," he hissed.

Sakura leapt to her feet in an instant just as the blond called out from the living room, sounding worried, "Sakura? What was that noise? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just tripped!" she shouted back, hiking her shorts up to hide the ink on her hip and stumbling around the bed while Kakashi remained on the floor and out of sight.

Ino appeared a second later and raised an eyebrow. She had her hair down and her make-up done especially well while wearing one of her many fashionable coats and boots. "Hey," she chimed. "I was wondering why it was so hot in here. What's with all the skin?" She eyed her friend's leg. "And the ink?"

"The guys and I were doing laundry," Sakura replied, rubbing her right heel against her left leg.

"Ooh, sorry I missed it," Ino replied with an exaggerated wiggle of her eyebrows, making her friend laugh. "Hey, get dressed. I've rounded up some of the others and we're all going to meet for dinner."

"I don't know, Ino," the medic said. "I had meetings this morning with Tsunade-sama and then the guys came over and I think I just want to spend tonight relaxing at home. I've got paperwork anyway and Tsunade-sama wants me to come up with a rough plan for Kakashi's procedure so we have a starting point."

The blond rolled her eyes. "All right, fine, but next time you're coming with, all right? It will only be a matter of time before you start going gray or something and as your best friend I can't allow that. If you change your mind, we're going to that sushi place outside the hospital."

"Thanks, Ino."

She watched the blond leave and waited until the front door shut before turning and throwing herself across the bed to look down at Kakashi.

He grinned crookedly back. "I think I landed on something," he said a bit woefully.

Sakura grinned and the anxious knot in her chest unraveled. She slithered off the bed to lie beside him. "Yeah, the floor," she said, draping a leg over his and laying her cheek against his chest.

Then for a reason that she'd never be able to sufficiently explain, she started to laugh and after only a few seconds, Kakashi joined her. He pushed the hair back from his forehead as he chuckled openly and she hid her face against his skin, enjoying the way the sound rumbled up through his chest.

"I'm so sorry about that," she said, sobering a little as she propped herself up on one hand and looked down at him.

Kakashi shook his head. "It's done," he said gently.

It seemed as much an acquittal of the interruption as it was a confirmation that the moment was dead.

Sakura nodded and tried—oh so very hard—to hide her disappointment because it seemed _desperate_ to be disappointed about something like this. Not that it escaped Kakashi's notice. He smiled at her in that way that made her insides twist and sat up to press a long, lingering kiss to her lips. "Me too," he murmured huskily.

She smiled a little, mostly to herself, and kissed him again before letting him get to his feet and laughing when he pulled her up to hers. She was grateful that so much was simply understood between them.

Kakashi kissed her cheek and then vanished to retrieve his shirt from where it had been abandoned in the living room, presumably before anyone else could barge in. Sakura moved to follow him but paused in front of her mirror. Curious, she tugged down the waist of her shorts and revealed the inked face of a henohenomoheji drawn into the hollow of her hip.

Unable to help herself, she burst into a new fit of laughter and sauntered after Kakashi.

* * *

1. First of all, I apologize for the lack of updates. Things have been very hectic for me lately and they don't look to be slowing down any time soon. Just know that I am so psyched that you guys have stuck with me and I really, really appreciate your patience.

2. This chapter was filler. Total, pointless, fluffy filler. Not even smutty filler, like I promised last chapter. There is a very good reason for this. Up until this update, Chapter 38 was looking to be well over 10,000 words long. As you might have noticed, this is just scratching the 7000 mark or there about. Those other 3000 words are still around, but they're going to be around next chapter with the smut I promise. It'd been taking me so long to update that I decided that I would simply do the same thing here that I did with Blithe Spirits and update what I did have rather than making you all wait even LONGER for me to get my lazy ass around to finishing the chapter.

3. So when will 39 be out? I have no idea. My motivation has been all over the place lately as has my attention, which wanders drunkenly between this and several original projects I have going. This however does not mean that the story is discontinued. I swore to myself that I would finish House Calls, even if it killed me, and that is what will be done. So no matter how long the next wait is, remember that I will eventually get to it. Especially since we only have a few chapters left.

4. Also, smut next chapter. I promise!

5. In other news Kikufire has added another lovely piece of fanart to the gallery over at our Deviant Art community and I have finally updated Blithe Spirits for those of you who read it before and were wondering if it was abandoned!

6. Once again, guys, I sincerely thank you for your patience and support.


	39. In Which Promises Are Fulfilled

**House Calls**

**Chapter 39**

* * *

**Note:**Took me long enough, right? But here it is and here is your fair warning: this chapter contains sexual/sensual content. It isn't terribly explicit and the language used is quite clean, but reader discretion is advised for my fellows who prefer to not dirty their minds in the gutters.

* * *

Sakura was slowly growing to hate herself. At first, it didn't seem like a big deal to blow Ino off with an excuse or to plead out of training and lunch with Naruto because she and Kakashi had plans. It wasn't even a problem to skip a shift or two at the hospital, because Tsunade knew that she had other, bigger projects to be focusing on.

But it wasn't very long before the lies began to pile up and she found herself frustrated with all of the subterfuge. She was, after all, not a liar by nature especially not when it concerned her friends. Perhaps it was Tsunade's fault, but she simply preferred the blunt, honest truth, which just wasn't possible with hers and Kakashi's current arrangements in place. And it was driving her crazy.

The frustration mounted when she was forced to finagle her way out of another mission with a Team Seven and it reached a fevered pitch when she and Kakashi were interrupted on three dates in a row. Given, it was their fault for remaining in the village and no one had any reason in the world to believe that they would want privacy, but it was the principle of the thing.

It was the last straw when she had begged off spending the day with Sai and Naruto and came to the realization that she was _lying_ to her boys. It was possible that they both just understood and accepted the fact that she was busy, but it horrified her to think that there might be a possibility that they simply trusted her _not_ to lie to them and that broke her heart.

"Kakashi?"

The Copy-nin raised an eyebrow at her but never looked up from his book. Their dinner things were scattered on the coffee table, waiting to be transported to the sink just as soon as the pair stopped being quite so comfortable where they were. Sakura was propped against the arm of the couch reading while Kakashi lounged with his head in her lap and his heels hooked over the opposing arm and Icha Icha opened.

"Can we talk?"

Kakashi was an intent reader and even now as his girlfriend she found it sometimes impossible to steal his attention away from Icha-Icha. So, she was gratified by how swiftly he snapped his book shut and sat up to face her. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

Sakura rearranged herself on the cushion and threw her file onto the coffee table next to her picked-over plate, dropping her pretense of interest. "A little."

"I was wondering," he murmured. When she raised a curious eyebrow at him he smiled and elaborated: "You've seemed tense all night. You've seemed tense the last few nights" He laid a hand over hers and rubbed her knuckles gently with his thumb. "What's up?"

She shrugged. "I've been thinking."

"A dangerous prospect."

Sakura smiled despite herself and lifted her eyes to meet his. "I think it's time to tell the others. About us, I mean."

Kakashi blinked and shifted to face her even more. Whatever he had been expecting, clearly that had not been it and she felt the bottom drop out of her stomach. "Sakura, I—"

"I just… I'm tired of lying to everyone."

He frowned. "We're not lying," he said, obviously concerned.

Sakura sighed. "I am," she said. "I lie to Ino about what I'm doing and I lie to Sai and Naruto about where I'm going and why and I've had to go behind Tsunade-sama's back, which I hate more than anything. I can't keep doing that, Kakashi. They trust me. I know that I'm not really doing anything wrong and maybe it's none of their business, but I feel like I'm violating something." She squeezed his hand and swiped some hair out of her face. "Look, we don't have to shout it from the rooftops. That's not what I'm saying. I just want to tell the people closest to us. Everyone else can just figure it out on their own."

Kakashi stared her for a moment longer and then began to nod, shifting his weight in the cushions a little so he was sitting up. "All right," he replied. "Who do we start with?"

"Tsunade."

He frowned. Sakura was staring through the coffee table at something a hundred miles away with her brows deeply furrowed. "Why?"

She looked to him, snapping from her trance. "If you really think that there might be a problem with us continuing missions together, she's the best ally we can make. Telling her first lets her know that we trust her to help us."

Kakashi nodded, but his shoulders were tense. "She's just as likely to oppose it," he said finally.

"But she'll hear us out." She paused and then sighed. "And we should tell Naruto whenever we tell Tsunade, but that's it. Everyone else can just… figure it out," she added at his reluctant hum.

He lifted his head to look her in the eye and smiled a little when she lifted a hand to gently stroke his cheek. "I'll leave Tsunade to you," he murmured. "I'll tell Naruto."

Sakura lifted her eyebrows. "Are you sure?"

He sighed, that sigh that he always let out whenever he was feeling old. "I have a feeling that this should be one of those man-to-man things," he said. He rubbed her leg reassuringly. "I'll take care of it. Just let me know when you're ready." He paused and then met her eyes again. "It… isn't exactly a fate worse than death if we can't go together on missions anymore."

"No, it's not," Sakura replied. "But I want to try. You're my partner and I'm not willing to give that up so easily."

Kakashi smirked. "And you'd much rather bend rules to your whims than give in to them a little?"

"Damn right."

He laughed at that and she could see a few years lift from his features. "That's my girl," he murmured affectionately as he tipped his head to look down at her.

He probably meant it ironically but with a smile Sakura leaned in and kissed him before replying with a very simple: "Yes."

* * *

Sakura was pretty sure that she was now officially the worst person ever. All right, that was an exaggeration but she _felt_ like the worst person ever and that was an awful thing to be dragging around.

It had been almost two weeks since she and Kakashi had talked and she still hadn't managed to choke out an explanation to Tsunade. Every time she went to say something the words got caught in her throat and the only thing that would come out was this strangled gargling sound that sounded like she had swallowed one of Jiraiya's toads. Of course by now the woman knew something was up—mostly because she was not an _idiot_—but she hadn't pressed Sakura for information. Yet. The medic had a feeling that it would only be a matter of time.

The truth was that Sakura was just a coward. Like Kakashi had said, Tsunade could as easily condemn them as save them and the thought alone made her gut wrench painfully. She couldn't bear to disappoint the woman.

"Mm, now this I could get used to."

Kurenai laughed. "Me too. I look forward to everything coming back into bloom."

It was unseasonably warm outside and as if connected by some sort of hive mind every person in Konoha had decided to get out and enjoy the weather, including Sakura and Kakashi. They were supposed to meet Sai and Naruto at Ichiraku's for lunch in an hour and a half, which they figured gave them plenty of time to walk the edge of the training grounds and enjoy the sun.

They were not the only ones to have this thought, as it happened. It wasn't long before they ran across Kurenai and Asuka, who were accompanied by Shikamaru. While Kurenai sat off to one side relaxing on a checked picnic blanket, the Nara was busy attempting to stop the young girl from breaking her neck as she repeatedly tried and failed to walk on her hands. It wasn't long before he gave up and recruited a reluctant Kakashi to the cause.

Sakura had taken a seat beside Kurenai and was reclined back on her hands, her elbows locked, and her head tipped back to better enjoy the sensation of the breeze blowing across her face.

These little lapses into warmth weren't uncommon as Fire Country approached springtime and she found herself grateful for the break. It had been too gray lately, which had done nothing to help her mood.

"So, Sakura."

She looked quickly to Kurenai, who was pouring tea for them both from a thermos. "Yes?" she asked.

The woman glanced up at the medic from under her lashes, looking rather sly as she held one cup out to Sakura. She was wearing a light cotton dress and cardigan and would have looked downright civilian if not for her forehead protector and thigh holster. "How long have you and Kakashi been seeing each other?"

Sakura blinked and stared and then blinked again. And then one more time for good measure as she began to breathe a little faster. "I-I'm sorry?" she stammered. "Why would—how—we—"

Kurenai was smiling outright now, warm and amused and it put the younger woman at ease to see it. "Relax, Sakura," she said gently. "You two must be keeping it a secret for a reason, so I'm not about to tattle on you to anyone. I'm just being nosy. Mothers do that, you know."

"I know," the pinkette replied, sounding hoarse to her own ears. Ino was nosy because she cared, _she_ was nosy because she cared, her mom was nosy—_crap_. She really didn't want to think about her mother right then. They hadn't spoken in weeks and the last thing on her to-do list was to reveal that she was dating the man she had introduced as her team leader not even a whole year ago. She swallowed and shook her head to clear it. "How could you tell?"

"Intuition I guess," Kurenai said with a laugh. She looked back to Kakashi and smiled. "I don't think I've ever seen Kakashi as happy as this and I've known him for years. There's something in his whole demeanor that's changed. There's something different in yours too, now that I think about it." She smiled. "Besides, it takes one to know one."

Sakura felt a familiar pang zing through her chest as she thought of Asuma. Memories of a heartbroken Ino, Chouji, and Shikamaru followed immediately after him and left her feeling numb.

"Are you two serious?"

She blinked and looked to the older woman again. Her cheeks felt hot even to herself and she didn't want to think about how red she must actually be. "We… well, yes," she said. "We're in love." The words were just barely out of her mouth before she compulsively slapped a hand to her forehead. "Gods, that sounds so corny."

Kurenai chuckled and shook her head. "It sounds _wonderful_," she corrected. "I'm so happy for you two. You both do so much for Konoha; you deserve a little slice of happiness for yourselves."

For a moment, Sakura glowed all over because that was exactly what she needed to hear, but this faded quickly. She could only hope that Tsunade shared that sentiment.

Neither spoke for some minutes as they watched Asuka take her first tentative steps on her hands and then fall over forwards, landing in the grass with a muted _thud_. Kakashi helped her up and then crouched down to explain something. Asuka got back onto her hands and Kakashi lifted a hand to straighten her legs when they started to waver too far in one direction or the other.

"Kurenai?"

The woman looked to the medic, her brows lifting slightly. "Yes?"

Sakura shifted her stare to the ground and then finally to the genjutsu master as she took a breath. "Why didn't you and Asuma ever tell anyone about you two?"

Kurenai's breath audibly caught at first and then was released in a quiet sigh as her eyes fell to the grass. "There were a lot of reasons," she admitted finally. "We were on and off for years at first so it just didn't make any sense to tell anyone. Then when we finally got it together… I don't know. It just never seemed like the right time, which just sounds silly when you think about it."

Despite herself, Sakura laughed in bitter agreement. "It kind of does."

Kurenai smiled. "I suppose it comes naturally after a while. We're trained to keep secrets and to protect ourselves by any means necessary."

"Do you ever regret it?"

The words came out before the medic could stop them and she cringed reflexively.

"Which part?"

Sakura shrugged her shoulders feebly. "Any of it." She looked to Kurenai then. "I mean, I can't imagine how much it must have hurt to lose him and then find out…" Her eyes wandered over to Asuka. "It must have been so hard," she concluded lamely.

Kurenai smiled again, but more feebly. "It still hurts," she confessed. "If anyone has ever told you that time heals all wounds, they were lying. There are some wounds that it just can't touch." She took a deep breath and then turned her gaze upwards to the sky, either to admire the color or to keep her eyes dry. "That said, I only regret the secrecy. I regret every time we couldn't be together because of it, but everything else? I wouldn't have traded the time we had together or what I felt for him for any promised thing." She lowered her stare finally and then leveled it at Sakura, who was playing with her hands. "Does that help, Sakura?"

She wasn't going to ask how the woman knew—how she knew anything. Experience, she surmised. That couldn't be traded for anything in the world. A veteran of thirty years always had the advantage over a rookie no matter the scenario. This was no different. That said, she felt a heavy weight drop from her shoulders and she took her first, deep breath in what felt like ages.

"It does," she said finally. "Thank you."

* * *

Later that night, the thought of Kakashi leaving send a bolt of pain through her that had Sakura pleading with him to stay the night, please. He looked slightly alarmed and began rubbing her shoulders and assuring her that he wasn't going anywhere and was this one of those woman things and was there anything he could do?

It was a small comfort.

When they were getting ready for bed he stripped to his general issue undergarments and faked modesty by covering his chest with one arm, wrenching a laugh out of her because she just couldn't help it. He was such a different creature than the one she had known as a child or even the one she had known a year ago. Once upon a time she wondered if he ever actually smiled under that mask. Sometimes it was all just a little too forced with too much effort put into those squinty eyes for it to be at all real or sincere. It was rewarding now to not just see the smile for herself but to _feel_ the change in him too as he motioned for her to lie against him as he reclined into the pillows at the head of her bed.

He was cuddly too. That was something that would have blown her mind back in the day, but now she was just grateful that he enjoyed being laid on because his badly abused sternum was her new favorite pillow.

Sakura wasn't sure how much of the night she had spent lying awake, but she was almost certain that it was more than half. She couldn't help it. Her head swam with thoughts of Kurenai and everything she had said, thoughts of Asuma and the idea of losing Kakashi in the same manner, and how tired she was of doubt always edging its way into her thoughts. At any rate, by five o'clock she was wide awake and up for a shower, it never being too early for a nice, head-clearing round of ablutions.

Her departure didn't go unnoticed, however. Not that she had expected it to. Sharing a bed with Kakashi made her feel grossly inadequate as a ninja sometimes and when she stepped out of the bathroom in a pair of panda print panties and a flimsy camisole, she couldn't help but smile at the sight of Kakashi sitting up in bed reading Icha Icha by the first dim glimpses of morning filtering in through the blinds.

On noticing her, he snapped the book shut at the sight of her and motioned for her to join him again.

"Well?" he prompted after a while.

Sakura smiled. They were lying on their sides, facing one another and while she was busying herself with one of his hands, tracing the many scars and calluses and lines of it, he played with her hair.

"I'm fine," she replied.

"Liar," he whispered as he brought her hand to his mouth and nipped the back of it.

She laughed and reflexively tried to pull away. "Hey, you animal, I need that."

He grinned and pulled her closer despite her struggling. "What kept you up all night?"

Sakura sighed and rolled over onto her back. "You're a nag," she said.

"It would take one to know one," Kakashi replied, rolling himself over her to cage her with his arms. "There, I have you trapped. Now, tell me."

A throaty laugh bubbled to the surface and she gave him a wry look. "One of the feeblest prisons ever constructed," she replied with a critical glance at his arms.

He pouted. "My biceps take offense to that."

Sakura laughed a little louder. "I'm sorry. They're very firm and manly. It's just, you know, chakra-enhanced super strength and all that." She smiled. "You don't have to worry about me."

"Fine, we agree that my worrying is entirely optional. That said, tell me anyway." Kakashi shifted his weight onto just one forearm and lifted his other hand to comb her damp hair away from her forehead. "Sakura."

She sighed, knowing better than to assume that he'd simply drop it now that he had carried it this far. Though it was kind of nice being the one nagged for once. Just this one time though, she hoped he didn't make a habit of it or she'd have to start seeing the boys' side of things when they complained about her and that was surely the way to madness. "I talked to Kurenai at the park," she began, her words stilted.

He hummed. "I heard you two," he murmured.

Sakura flew immediately into incredulity. "How did she know—?"

"Magic," Kakashi cut in. "I've tried to figure out how she does that and I've concluded that it's magic. Motherhood seems to have just enhanced that."

She snorted. "So you're postulating that her womb is directly hardwired into what gives her that particular power?"

"Exactly," he replied. "But stop derailing our conversation. We'll save talk of her womb for another time. What about Kurenai?"

"You must have heard the rest of the conversation."

"Yes. And?"

Sakura shrugged, dragging her fingers thoughtfully up his chest and contemplating the myriad of criss-crossing scars that marred his flesh. "And nothing," she said. "That's it."

Kakashi let out a deep breath from his nose and settled his weight again to one side of her as he remained propped on one elbow over her. "I told you that I was fine with getting the word out," he murmured. "I wasn't lying about it just to make you happy."

She gave him a stern look and emphasized it by rolling over to sit on him, straddling his hips and feeling too piqued to feel self-conscious. "You ever do that and I'll grind you into a fine powder," she said, prodding his chest meaningfully. "I hate the thought of you ever feeling the need to appease me like that."

"Duly noted," he said. His voice was a pleasant rumble as his lips quirked into a smile that made her gut twist in a particular and delicious way. "Sakura, I'm yours, for whatever that's worth, and I will be for however long you want me. I'm all right if others know."

"But that's not want you want."

"I hope you mean that last bit because I'm enjoying the first parts."

Sakura smiled and her fingers danced their way up his neck to his cheek, idly tracing the faint tan line left behind by his mask that bisected his nose. "Now who's derailing the conversation?"

Kakashi caught her hand and pinned it to his skin. "I will get over it," he said firmly. "On the other hand, you are letting this secret eat you alive."

She sighed and slumped down to rest her forearms on his chest. "I do kind of suck at secrets," she admitted.

"Hm, I didn't want to say anything, but I agree."

Sakura pinched his chest in reprimand and Kakashi retaliated by turning and pinning her to the bed. She threw her head back into the pillows and broke into a fit of mirthful, open-mouthed laughter as she raised her hands to stroke his neck in apology, giggling still as their eyes met.

Experience had taught her that there were few certainties in life, so it was refreshing to have him.

He shifted his weight to rest more fully on his right arm as he raised his left hand to touch her hair and then her cheek. He was smiling at her in that way (she hoped) he reserved just for her and the brush of his fingertips against her skin was gentle, almost reverent. It made her insides ache and twist.

Memories of the last year and all of the things that had brought them here, to this point, played back for her then. The romance itself had been a whirlwind of sorts, but it was built on years spent breaking down reservations and building a foundation of trust and friendship. She knew that they were lucky. All of the conditions had been right for things to just fall into place for them.

Kakashi played with a lock of her hair falling forward in front of her ear and then his fingers skimmed the curve of her jaw before drifting down over skin of her throat and playing briefly in the hollow between her collar bones. She arched her neck a little at the sensations and he leaned in and kissed her there.

And with that something changed. That aching inside of her gave way to a fire that began to burn her up. With her throat thick and him suddenly too close and yet not nearly enough, she slid one hand around his neck and pushed her fingers through his hair as her other hand found purchase between his shoulder blades. He pressed another kiss to her shoulder and then turned his head to bury his face into the curve of her neck, inhaling.

She shivered. "Kakashi."

He lifted his head just enough to kiss her cheek and then brush his nose against hers. "I want…" His voice suddenly dropped an octave, turning husky and hoarse as he stumbled over his words. "But it isn't…"

No, it wasn't. Things were perfect just as they were. Sakura couldn't remember a time in her life when she had ever been happier. Even when she was up to her elbows in gore and ready to pass out from emotional and physical exhaustion, the thought of him gave her just enough oomph to push through the rest of the day. He made her feel stronger and the bad things never seemed quite as bad anymore.

They didn't _have_ to do anything. But she wanted to and more than that she wanted _him_. She wanted to touch him, to feel his skin against hers, to show him that this was real, that it was so much more than just whimsy on her part just in case he had any lasting doubts because she didn't. This was how it was supposed to be, she thought and she kissed him, willing it to say what she couldn't properly articulate. All of her silly, childhood notions of what love was withered and died away in the shadow of this.

Kakashi made a low sound in his throat and she felt him shake a little when his weight came to rest a little more fully against her. He laid one hand on her waist before moving it down to her hip and then up again, his fingertips sliding under the hem of her camisole and playing tentatively over her ribs and side. It was almost ticklish but it made her shiver and arch into him.

Sakura dragged her hands up his back, enjoying the feel of the flexing, shivering muscles under her palms as she turned her head, breaking their kiss to let her lips wander over his cheek and then down to his jaw to his neck. His hand skated quickly down to her hip and then around her backside to press her closer as she hitched one leg over his hip and did the same.

Kakashi smelled like she thought a man should smell. Like soap and black powder and earth. She liked his hands too. They were rough and callused and they felt good against her. They were the same hands that pulled her out of danger, the hands of experience, of years long past filled with fighting and suffering, and they held her with confidence and certainty that she felt stronger and bolder by proxy.

It could have been hours before their clothes found their way to the floor. Sakura didn't notice or really care because the sensation of his chest against hers and his lips on her neck-skin on skin and heat against heat-made everything outside of her bedroom inconsequential. Then he was whispering something as his lips moved down her neck, passed her collarbones, to the valley between her breasts, to one breast as one callused palm and thumb found the other and that awareness narrowed even further until it was just him.

Once upon a time, Tsunade had assured Sakura in one of her rare, sentimental moments found amidst the soothing haze of sake, that understanding sex from a biological and anatomical standpoint didn't equal understanding it from any other perspective. It had come out of nowhere, guided only by the heavy, sorrowful nostalgia that overcame the woman now and then between bottles, but it had stuck with Sakura. It gave her hope. Someday maybe she'd be able to see the act like the romantics did, like she had before she had gotten so _old_ and sex had just turned into _copulation_; into bits grinding and sliding against other bits and unsterilized hands in places where they ought not to be without gloves.

Sakura just barely muffled a sound against Kakashi's neck when he rolled his hips into hers and pressed himself inside. For a moment, she actually, really saw stars.

He asked her a question, but the sound of his voice all hoarse and choked and the sensations coursing through her distracted her from the words. He was probably asking if she was all right to go on, because that seemed like something he'd do. In any other circumstance she might have reminded him that she was a kunoichi and that she loved him and that this tiny ache was so inconsequential as to be nonexistent by comparison, but instead she answered by drawing her legs up around his hips and _moving_. At this, he hissed and cursed and then whatever followed was lost among a deep baritone groan that curled her toes and sent little bolts of pleasure rippling through her.

Sakura felt like she was on fire and his skin was scalding to the touch too as the gentle ebb and flow of their movement continued, but she held him tighter because she wouldn't—couldn't—let him go, even if it reduced her to ash in the end. Her hands skittered against his back, seeking something to cling to as his shoulders and back grew slick with sweat. His hands were more insistent too, grabbing and clutching and holding onto her as if she'd disappear if he stopped and the noises he made, low and desperate—oh _gods_.

Sakura's eyes started to burn at some point and it wasn't long before she muffled a half-sob, half-moan against his shoulder. It was all so much and her mind was awash in a sea of sensation and emotion. It was embarrassing and it wasn't long before Kakashi noticed. She kissed him to tell him it was okay and to her relief he didn't stop, but his hold on her tightened that much more and the kiss turned into one, long probing caress of lips and tongues as his pace slowed to drag everything out. She bit down on another sound in her throat. It was all almost too much to bear.

"_Sakura_." He lips brushed against her forehead and one of his hands found hers and their fingers twined together as he pressed her knuckles the bed. His next words were broken as he whispered them next to her ear, "Stay with—_please_. Always."

It was hard to say what did it exactly, if it was just the inevitable conclusion or the words themselves, but she came apart then. She bit down hard on her urge to cry out and settled for clinging to him for dear life and scoring his shoulders with her nails as every nerve in her body seemed to come alive at once. The stars were back, shooting across her vision and bursting into nothing.

He wasn't far behind her and there was something immensely satisfying in the low, gravelly sound he made in the back of his throat and the sweat he worked up and the way the muscles of his back and stomach jump and twitch as his arms shook.

Kakashi's weight came to settle heavily on her and he mouthed a lazy kiss against her neck as his hands ran up and down her sides, pressing into her skin and curves. Sakura pressed a feeble kiss to his temple and held him against her, not quite willing to relinquish the moment. He didn't even try to fight her and buried his face comfortably in her shoulder, breathing heavily against her.

Dawn had come and the first tentative rays of sunlight spilled through her window blinds and across Kakashi's back, illuminating the faint white remnants of scars that littered his skin and the deeply etched lines of his muscles. Idly, Sakura traced them until she fell asleep.

* * *

Sakura's hair was mussed, falling over the pillows and neck in half-dried kinks and waves. Impulsively, Kakashi reached out and ran one lock between his fingers. She shifted a little into him, the sheets tangled around her legs, baring one long lean limb to the morning light. It made her smooth skin glow and he couldn't help but trace his fingertips over her knee and up her thigh to her hip.

She squirmed at the sensation and smiled, her eyes still closed. "Tickle me and I'll break your hand."

He grinned and tipped her chin up to kiss her gently on the lips. "You're really good at this pillow talk thing. Are you sure you've not done this before?"

Sakura laughed and kicked her legs to fix the sheets back over her. "I'm just a natural, I suppose."

Kakashi smiled and pulled her a little closer. "So…" He trailed off meaningfully and looked down at the top of her very pink head.

"So," she replied as if in agreement. She opened her eyes and tipped her head to look up at him. "I'll see Tsunade today."

"Should I pack to leave the country?"

Sakura smiled. "Tsunade can be determined. She'd probably find you no matter where you went if she really wanted to," she said. "But don't worry about it. It's just a ploy of hers when she acts like she can't be reasoned with. I know better than that." She tipped her head and kissed him on the lips again before settling down into the pillows. "I'm her student. She has spent seven years training me to be just as stubborn as she is. I'll make her see my side—our side—of things."

The Copy-nin nodded slowly. "Then I'll talk to Naruto tonight," he said.

She hummed in agreement and then for some time neither of them spoke.

Kakashi lifted a hand to comb his fingers through her hair and smiled at the way she tipped her head into his touch. His hand drifted down and he skimmed his knuckles over the curve of her shoulder and down her arm before moving up again to push her hair further back from her face. This was, without a doubt, exactly where he belonged and that certainty settled over him like a blanket. He let out a long breath, completely content and happy.

"Do you have a shift today?" he asked at length.

Sakura hummed softly. "No. Not until later this afternoon. What about you? You're usually at the memorial at this time." She smiled. "I'll understand if you want to go. I know how important it is to you."

He shook his head and reached over to draw her across his chest. "In a little while," he whispered.

"I second that," she replied as she nuzzled his sternum.

* * *

1. Short chapter is short and I apologize for that, but it is what it is. I wanted to get this story updated as I've been promising.

2. Not much to say. This was my first shot at a sex scene. I tried to focus more on the emotion and steer away from explicitly describing the act because we all know how that goes and to me it's the least interesting part of any lemon. I know that it's probably not up to snuff, but I did promise citrus and here it is.

3. Where have I been lately? Now that's a loaded question. I am a slave to my family and they come first and foremost, so I have been babysitting and acting as my grandmother's driver as of late and as much as I loathe missing opportunities to write, I would not trade those responsibilities for anything in the world. You all must simply be patient with me, loves.

4. What else have I been up to? Well, two things really. I'm working on an original story that I'm hoping to finish by the end of the summer and, fingers crossed, publish in the future. Secondly, doctors. A lot of them. I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure and kidney cysts and I'll be undergoing tests in the coming month to determine what's the what.

5. Needless to say updates may continue to be stunted. I encourage you all to go read my other stories to get your fill in the mean time. I'll be posting as many one-shots as I can in between updates just to keep the creative pulse alive.

**Be kind, please rewind.**

**I mean, review.**


	40. In Which We End

**House Calls  
**

**Chapter 40**

* * *

Tsunade had started training Sakura because the girl had had the guts to ask and even though she had thought the girl would quit before the end of the first week, Sakura had come back time after time. Jaded though she was, even she had found herself admiring her new charge's determination because _that_ was what it took to be a kunoichi. The harder she pushed, the harder Sakura pushed back.

She didn't like to think of Sakura as a daughter, though. It brought up too many painful what-ifs and should-haves and she found herself reflexively reaching for a bottle. But she was as proud as any mother. Haruno Sakura was her work of art; her opus. It would not be much longer before she knew that when death came for her she could go peacefully with the knowledge that Konoha would be safe in the hands of her apprentice and those of her generation.

So, all of this considered, she disliked seeing the girl out of sorts. It was clear in her demeanor, in the way she would begin to speak only to silence herself and make a lame excuse that something was troubling her and it put Tsunade on edge. The woman's formative years had been spent watching over two reckless boys, her training had made her a caretaker, and years as the Hokage had seen to only strengthen her inherent need to see problems resolved. She had become infamous among the other Kages for the possessiveness she showed her people. They were not just soldiers—pawns on a board to be sacrificed. They were people with families and children and futures and they were _hers_.

And Sakura was one of the dearest to her heart.

"For the love of the gods, girl! Just tell me what's wrong!"

For the fourth time that day, Sakura had fumbled a pile of folders that were now strewn across the floor. However, the girl's wide eyes were focused on the Hokage, hesitation and confusion mixing in the dark, jade green. "Excuse me, Shishou?" she asked, her voice very small.

Tsunade had both of her elbows propped on her desk as she rubbed at her temples with her eyes squeezed shut and her mouth pressed into a tight line. Taking a breath, she sat back in her seat. "How many days now have you dropped things and tripped over yourself and started sentences only to never finish?" the woman asked. She sighed and leveled her apprentice with a look. "This isn't like you, Haruno. What's wrong?"

For a minute, Sakura looked like a frightened doe. Then the fear receded and she looked like a guilty genin caught fibbing to the instructor. "I'm sorry, Shishou," she said softly. "I… I've had a lot on my mind lately."

"You're not fretting about performing Hatake's surgery, are you?" the woman asked with a frown.

Her student shook her head. "No… well, yes. A little, maybe, but that isn't the problem right now." She sighed and looked to the Hokage with an expression that made her look painfully young and aged beyond her years all at once. "I've wanted to tell you so badly, Shishou. I really have. I've just… I haven't been able to find the words to explain myself and I'm so afraid…"

Tsuande's frown deepened. "Afraid? Of what?" she asked. She rose from her seat and rounded her desk to lean against its front, ignoring the files at her back. Paperwork could wait. She had something far more urgent to attend to. "Sakura. Tell me what's bothering you. It isn't those fools you call your team, is it?"

The girl actually laughed at this and her teacher was relieved to see the smile on her face, however temporary it was. "I love those fools," she replied and with that the smile fell.

"Sakura," Tsunade prompted again, patiently despite everything she felt to the contrary.

For a moment, she lost the girl to something else far off in her own head, but just as swiftly Sakura returned and with her came a new sort of resolve that straightened her shoulders and hardened her eyes. The Sannin inhaled through her nose and barely suppressed her smile. It was a swift, sudden change that overtook the girl in an instant and she was glad for it; glad to see the girl that had been absent from the office for some time now.

"Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade raised an expectant eyebrow. "Yes?"

The pinkette drew in a deep breath and then let it out slowly. "Tsunade-sama, Kakashi and I are seeing each other. Romantically. I love him."

Try as she might to forget it, Tsunade was fast approaching seventy—a landmark for someone whose career boasted an average life expectancy of twenty-seven years, give or take. In that time, she had seen many strange things, had watched many miracles be performed, had performed a few of her own, and knew intimately both the wonder of love and the terrible pain of loss. She was a veteran, not just of the ninja world, but of life as well. Few things existed in the world that could surprise her anymore.

And it would have shocked a great many people to realize that Sakura was a rich source of those surprises. Even after all of their years together as student and teacher, she still was.

Like everyone, she knew very well the tragic story of Sakura's first love, but she also understood better than anyone else how terrible it was to love someone and then realize that you had loved a shadow all along. And like everyone else, she had feared that Sakura would never recover from that. She had watched, up close, as the girl's profession and experience broke her down. The flighty romantic and whatever had remained of her innocence had gone forever from the girl, peeling away and fading into nothing, leaving behind a battle-tested veteran, as hard as tempered steel. The rumors whispered that she would end a spinster like her master, lonely with just paperwork and a bottle to keep her company.

As for Hatake, he had been considered beyond help for so long that his family line was already thought of as deceased. He lived now as the ultimate cautionary tale superiors whispered to their subordinates when warning them about the unseen consequences of their career; how more than their bodies would end up broken; how many deaths a man really could die before he was dead in the ground. That, they said, was what was what a living casualty looked like.

Now, apparently that had changed.

At first, Tsunade thought that she should feel angry. It seemed only right. Hatake was fourteen years the girl's senior, had once upon a time been her teacher, and was even now her commanding officer. Even though Sakura was not her daughter it seemed only right to immediately seek out the man to castrate him.

And yet Hatake was a _good_ man. A flawed man, yes, a lazy bum and an eccentric (to put it politely), but good and there were few men in their world of bloody battlefields and shattered innocence for which _that_ could be said with utter honesty. Hatake Kakashi had earned and refused more commendations than any other ninja of Konoha in all of its years of standing. He was quick to protect the innocent, willing to ignore orders if he thought them wrong no matter the possible consequences, and had never earned a citation for anything other than tardiness—citations that were mere footnotes when compared to the reams of paper dedicated to listing his successes and honors. He fought for the good in the world, even if he had long ago been given every reason needed to give up.

On reflection, there were few others who came as close as he did to what Tsunade wanted for her not-daughter.

"I know that others might not approve, but I don't _care_, Shishou. Please, understand," Sakura was saying when Tsunade finally came back to herself. "I know how strange it probably seems, but I've never felt this way about anyone." A laugh bubbled up out of her, sounding part joyful and part incredulous. "I never thought I'd feel this way about _anyone_."

"You'll get hurt, Sakura."

It was the coldest truth in their lives. In the end, it'd hurt. Nothing could be done to deny it or blunt its cutting edge. Tsunade didn't even have to say it. Sakura had been a medic long enough to know it for herself, to witness it as the only promise their lives held was granted.

To her surprise, the girl just shook her head and another little laugh came from her lips as her eyes became glassy with tears. "I don't care," she said. "Shishou… you and Dan…"

Dan. His name alone brought a hundred thousand memories and sensations to the forefront of her mind and even without an explanation she knew exactly what Sakura was trying to tell her.

Tsunade wasn't a romantic at heart, like Sakura had been once or like Jiraiya had been and probably was even still wherever he was. As a girl she hadn't dreamed of true love and marriage, but of kunai and hand seals. So it was not out of some romantic notion that she had never loved again after Dan's death. It just that she knew it would never be as it had been with him and whoever she might take as a lover after him would have to live in that shadow, which wasn't fair. Even so, she had not ever—_would_ never—regret having loved that man.

(When he had found her grieving for Dan years after his death, Jiraiya had tried to comfort her. Even though she had dismissed him then for being a silly idealist, she clung to his words even still. "Some people," he had said with a big smile as he laid a massive, warm hand on her shoulder, "Will _never_ have what you two did. _That_ is a tragedy far greater than any other I can imagine. I envy you both terribly, Hime. I truly do.")

"I'm not afraid, Shishou."

Tsunade surfaced again from her recollections and saw how the girl's shoulders were still squared and her jaw still set. Yes, this was her masterwork, she thought fondly as something inside of her swelled to bursting with pride.

"I love him," Sakura said again, with more resolve. "I want to be with him and nothing is going to tell me I can't or shouldn't."

What could possibly be said to that? Any argument would be like throwing a pebble at a mountain and expecting it to yield. Tsunade would know. She had groomed this girl to withstand it all. "He makes you happy then?" she asked.

Tsunade knew that Sakura's concerns were more practical; that some people might talk, that their team might be separated given the circumstances, but that all of that would be silenced in an instant by the Hokage's approval. _Her_ concerns, however, were only for the girl that she had molded from a lump of clay into this kunoichi standing in front of her.

"Yes," the girl replied. "And… I think I make him happy too."

It was a simple statement which spoke volumes, but as Tsunade thought of it, yes… yes, she had noticed that. Looking back upon it, Hatake had been different for some time now; a new man, it seemed. Usually it looked as though he walked beneath the weight of his grief, slumped and palpably unhappy. As of late, however, something _had_ changed. There was easiness to his manners that seemed to come from real contentment instead of mere complacency. In their meetings together—usually with regards to Naruto—he was quicker to joke, to laugh, and to smile in a way that Tsunade knew was more genuine than the showy squeeze of his eyes.

This thought made her smile. Of all her men, she felt closest to Kakashi for a reason that she could never accurately put into words. Maybe it was simply that, of all her men, she trusted him the most implicitly. It was not a conscious thing. She simply found herself saying things to him that she would not ever confide in her actual counselors and a part of her hoped he would be something similar for Naruto when that day came.

She looked to her apprentice then and could almost see it. Despite initial appearances, the two were very similar in temperament and had known one another as friends and comrades longer than some married couples had before their nuptials. Yes, maybe the age gap was a little strange—he had watched her grow up, after all. But in so many ways, Sakura had watched _him_ grow up too. There was even some part of the Hokage that was certain that Sakura had helped him do so.

She thought of the two of them speaking quietly to one another in meetings and exchanging secretive grins and Sakura trying hard to hide her laughter, even though she was terrible at it. She had seen them walking together too, usually with the girl's hand tucked into his elbow or at a distance permitted only by the closest of companions. Not to mention that he had been so patient with her research and the gods knew that Kakashi was never patient when it came to being poked and prodded by anyone of the medical persuasion.

"I've seen his face."

It might have seemed like a radical non-sequitur in any other conversation, but Tsunade understood it too and could not help but laugh aloud. She could count on a single hand the people who had seen Hatake's face and it had never been voluntary on his part. "He's a pretty thing, isn't he?" she asked with genuine mirth.

Sakura laughed and smiled in a way that Tsunade hadn't seen her smile in a very long time and that settled it for her.

"I'm happy for you two," Tsunade said finally and she smiled at the way her apprentice's eyes went wide. "And given your history I don't think it'll be a problem for you to continue working together, _but_ the first time you two get caught fooling around on a mission, so help me I'll skin you both. You're only getting this chance because I trust you. Don't make me regret it."

The girl laughed. "I promise, you won't have to worry about it," she replied, taking on that bright, eager look that she approached all of her training with.

The Hokage nodded and then stifled a smirk as she settled back against her desk. She just couldn't miss this chance. "Speaking of which," she began with a heavy drawl. "You are using protection, right?"

Sakura blushed to the roots of her hair and the older woman laughed heartily, because there were few things more fun than taunting her subordinates. "You're a dirty old woman," the girl muttered, hiding her face behind one hand.

"_Old_?" Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Seems that we need to take a break and go to the training fields. I'll show you old."

The girl actually laughed at this and although she was still blushing she gave her mentor a wry look. "Just as long as you think your bones can take it."

* * *

The only thing that Naruto remembered wanting as a child (besides the whole Hokage thing and ramen, because he always wanted ramen) was to have someone—anyone—that loved him. And perhaps, as a twenty-year-old man looking back, he had wanted, even more than the first thing, someone to love in turn.

Iruka had filled a tiny portion of that hole in his heart, but it was like kicking a bit of dirt into a grave. Still, it had been something.

Maybe, on reflection, Sakura hadn't been the best choice to continue filling that hole. She had been, by her own admission, awful to him (she had soaked the front of his coat with tears one night while apologizing for _everything _after a mission had left him badly wounded). But she was the prettiest girl he had ever known and she wasn't mean to him because of the Kyuubi but because _he_ was annoying. To a young boy starved for even the tiniest scrap of human affection and recognition, it was all he had needed.

On more reflection, he would have never traded those first years of bruises and goose-eggs for anything, because they had eventually become a team and that had all just seemed to be a part of the process (and he could admit that he had deserved a great lot of them). She knew that she could rely on him and in time she had become someone he could count on too (even though he always had). They had fought together and lost their innocence together to the grief that had nearly eaten them both alive. Then they rose from those ashes together.

To think that Sakura could eventually be _more_ to him was—he realized some time ago—insane. They had a bond that was deeper and thicker than blood, one that had been forged in the fires of war and combat, and even though he had once dreamed of being the one to hold her hand and kiss her lips he found that he didn't long for it anymore. What they had was enough—was everything. Trust and real friendship were such rare things in their world and he knew with the same certainty that he knew he'd die for her that she would do the same for him. So, the idea of some other man taking her hands and kissing her lips just didn't bother him like it might have once. Not as long as they were worthy of her, at least. Not as long as they made her happy, like she ought to be.

"Naruto," Kakashi prompted from his right, his voice low and gentle.

They were standing together on the little red bridge that he had crossed countless times since childhood to reach the training fields. His elbows were propped on the railing while Kakashi stood with his back to it, hands in his pockets, and his chin tucked to his chest.

Naruto shifted a little. It wasn't just Sakura he had to think about, he knew. Kakashi was just as much his friend, his mentor, his teacher, and his first pick for a counselor whenever Baa-chan decided it was time to give him that damn hat. He was the closest link Naruto had to his own parents and another member of the ramshackle little family he had put together over the years. He wouldn't have survived his genin years without the man.

Sakura and Kakashi. It wasn't all _that_ crazy, really. Sure, the news was bit shocking, but the idea of them being together wasn't all that hard to imagine. In fact, he saw it nearly every day and now he realized how easy it fit. Maybe Sakura was younger than both him and Sai, but she had always seemed so much older than every one of the Konoha Eleven and she and Kakashi seemed to understand each other.

"Are you guys happy?"

Kakashi glanced over at him and then nodded. "Yes."

"Even you?"

The man let out a startled laugh at that and Naruto realized that it had never seemed to come that easily to him in the past. Kakashi had been laughing a lot more lately, now that he thought about it. "Even me," Kakashi confirmed and then added after a moment's thought, "Especially me."

Naruto straightened a little when he saw something unfamiliarly warm and soft in his old teacher's one eye. "You love her?" he asked, even though the answer was apparent.

Kakashi simply nodded.

The blond nodded too and looked down at the water running under the bridge moment before glancing at the man next to him and then looking away again. "I wish I'd noticed something," he began. "You'd think I would… or maybe you wouldn't." He laughed. "Maybe it's all this running around Baa-chan's got me doing."

"We were being discreet. If _you_ had noticed, we'd need to go to Tsunade and turn in our headbands."

"Nah, I'm not talking about that," Naruto replied, but he was grinning all the same. "You two have been a lot happier lately and, let's face it, neither of you are usually the life of the party." He chuckled a little and turned completely to face his friend and teacher. "I hope you didn't think I'd be mad."

"Not mad necessarily," Kakashi answered, his tone as even as always. "I know how you felt about Sakura when you were young and she was worried… well, Sakura always worries for you and Sai, warranted or not. She always will."

"That's our Sakura," the blond boy agreed with a nod. "And I did love her. I _do_ love her. It's just not nothin' like it was." Nothing was as it had been. He had said that aloud once to Tsunade, who had then clapped him on the back and congratulated him on finally growing up. "I thought I knew what I wanted back then, but I _have_ everything I've ever wanted. I guess that's what time does—makes you smarter. Even me." He shook his head as if to dismiss that. "You guys are the family I never had, you know. All I want is to see you happy—both of you. If you are, then that's all I need to hear. I'll knock out the teeth of anyone who says anything bad about it."

Kakashi's stare was somber even when he offered a hand out to Naruto to shake, which the blond eagerly accepted. It surprised him when the man's other hand came to rest on his shoulder. "Thank you, Naruto."

Even Naruto, in his great and vast denseness, understood that the Copy-nin was saying so much more than just what the words meant at face-value. And the last part of him that was grudging in his acceptance, that thought that no one would ever be good enough for Sakura-chan and that clung to those childish feelings he had once held for her, yielded and he smiled despite himself.

Then the moment was broken and they both turned when they heard a pair of familiar voices approaching, carried on the suddenly brisk, evening wind. They spotted Tsunade and Sakura coming from the way of the training grounds, both of them covered in bits of dust and gravel and chatting quietly.

Naruto grinned to himself at the way Kakashi's eye zeroed in on Sakura and he wondered to himself if he had ever looked that lovesick.

Clapping the Copy-nin on the back, he started across the bridge to meet the women, who had only just noticed them in turn. Sakura looked worried and opened her mouth to say something, but Naruto stopped her and swept her up into his arms before she could utter a word. She returned the embrace with no hesitation and equal fierceness, squeezing with all of her strength until he thought his ribs might break. After a moment longer, he set her down but did not let her loose as she babbled quietly next to his ear that she really did love Kakashi. "Please understand, Naruto."

The last dregs of regret dissolved. "I do," he said.

She smiled at him then in a way that he hadn't seen her smile since they were kids.

Naruto beamed back at her and then turned away to fall in beside Tsunade and follow her the long way back to the Hokage Tower. Sakura went to Kakashi, who was waiting for her still on the bridge and when the blond did chance a look back over his shoulder he had to smile at the look on Sakura's face when Kakashi took her hand. Then Tsunade slapped him on the shoulder and he turned away to give them their privacy.

* * *

"That's going to take some getting used to," Sakura admitted finally during their walk back to her house. She was just holding Kakashi's arm, her hand tucked into the crook of his elbow, but even so they were earning some of the strangest looks. Ah, the Konoha grapevine. It was a study of human nature unto itself. Although, it was hard to say what they had heard and what they hadn't. "Does it bother you?"

Kakashi looked up from his book and then over at her. "What?"

She rolled her eyes. "Never mind."

The truth was that she didn't even particularly care. In time, everyone would just get used to it—she'd _make_ them if it was necessary.

Speaking of which, Sakura paused when she saw that they just across the street from the Yamanaka flower shop. She could see Ino inside behind the counter, chatting avidly with a customer. It was hard to say what _she_ knew and what she didn't, but it only felt right to confirm it personally, Ino being her best friend and all.

"Kakashi, could you wait out here a second?" she asked.

He glanced up at the shop sign overhead and then looked down at her and creased his eye in an understanding smile. "Going to brave the lion's den?"

"If I need back-up, I know the signal."

Kakashi nodded and moved to lean back against a nearby streetlamp as she went for the door. She paused briefly outside to hold the door open for the elderly customer Ino had been talking to and then stepped inside. She was hit in the face with the heavy smell of greenery and flowers and smiled at the familiarity of it and the tinkling bell overhead.

"Welcome to the Yamanaka Flower—oh! Hey, Forehead!"

Sakura smiled. The shop was blissfully empty save for the two of them and she approached the counter to lean on it as Ino put aside an arrangement she had begun fiddling with to join her. "Hey, Pig. I don't plan on staying. I just wanted a chat."

"I'm always good for a chat," Ino replied. "Gods, you wouldn't believe what the grapevine's yelping about today. I mean, I hope we're better at info gathering on missions than we are when it comes to this townie stuff because sometimes I swear they just reuse past things. I mean, there were rumors about you and Kakashi going around months ago, but they're acting today like that's _new_ or something."

Reflexively, the medic cringed. "Um, rumors?"

Ino flapped a dismissive hand. "About you guys being together because you always spend so much time with each other, but you're a team! I mean, duh. Talk about reading into things. I'm just disappointed that that's all they can buzz about. I was hoping for something juicy to liven up shop work today, but it's all just recycled material. So, what's new with you?"

Sakura barely suppressed the urge to laugh and instead settled for a weary kind of grin that her friend raised a skeptical eyebrow at. "Ha, well, I suppose it's your lucky day because… it's true. I mean, Kakashi and I _are_ together. Dating. Whatever. I just told Tsunade this morning, so they must have heard it then or something."

For a minute, both girls simply stared at one another. Then a second later, Ino came flying across the countertop and flung her arms around her friend as she howled loudly enough that Kakashi and every other passerby heard it from the street: "I _KNEW_ IT!"

* * *

With Ino in the know, the whole village would be privy to their personal life before morning, but Kakashi didn't much care for anything but the way Sakura was smiling when she rejoined him on the street.

They walked around the village together until the street lamps were lit before finding themselves on his street. Without a word, Kakashi took Sakura's hand and led her up the stairs to his apartment. The dogs were gone—they usually were at this time of night—so they had his apartment to themselves and he didn't hesitate to kiss her once the door was shut and sealed behind them.

It hadn't been his plan to drag her immediately back to bed, but that was the direction they found themselves moving in, in tandem, her movements just as eager as his own.

This was bliss, he thought as her right hand tangled in his hair and the other began to pull at his shirt while he fumbled with the clasps of her jacket. He had expected to die alone in some cold, foreign land forgotten and unloved and once upon a time he would have been content with that. But this? He would _fight_ to come back to this; to Sakura and the warm circle of her arms, her smell, her smile, her voice, and that way that she looked at him that made him feel whole and _alive_.

They left a trail of clothes behind them on their way to the bedroom and they hadn't even reached the door before she braced her forearms against his shoulders levered her weight up. He lifted her easily and brought her firmly against him. Her ankles hooked together behind his back, her hips pressed into his, and the mesh of her undershirt rubbing against his bare chest and causing a delicious kind of friction as his fingers dug into the flesh of her backside.

It would destroy him to lose this, but he'd risk it. It was worth it; the feelings that overwhelmed his heart that he had previously thought dead, the way her hair spilled across his pillows when he laid her back in his bed, the sight of her smooth, ivory skin and the way her lean, pliable muscles rippled and flex as he peeled away the last of her clothes and cast them off into some cold, forsaken corner of the room. He pressed an almost reverent kiss into the hollow of her hip and Sakura gasped his name in a way that made his whole body burst with heat. He had lived for so long in isolation and starving for something he had never thought he needed that giving it up now would be tantamount to cutting off his own hand.

She pulled on him and as he fell into her kiss he took another greedy breath of her. His thoughts fled and she filled his lungs and mind.

They made love and then afterward, in the brief spells of wakefulness that came between bouts of rest, he worshipped her again with his hands and mouth, willing his actions to show her again what this meant to him. After all, he couldn't say it with words just yet, but he wanted her to know he felt it all the same. But if the way she said his name and clung to him, the way she woke him from the haze of sleep with her own wandering hands and soft, pliant lips was any indication then he had nothing to fear.

That thought coupled with the warm contentment that had settled deep in his bones and her mere presence—the scent of her and the way her skin stuck to his as she curled up on his chest in her slumber—were enough to eventually lull him to sleep.

* * *

There were a lot of things said over the next several months and while there were those who did whisper behind the pair's back for the most part there was no great fuss made over the recent upgrade their relationship had taken. No one thought anything of inter-team romances as they were quite common and the age gap was ignored because they were both consenting adults—backed by the Hokage no less. Whatever objections there might have been concerning them still taking missions together were eventually quashed as well as their record remained spotless throughout repeated trials. They were consummate professionals, after all.

For the most part, people were just interested in the juiciest parts. Kakashi was a mystery to the greater portion of the village and that generated much speculation about how exactly Sakura had roped him in. Others, mostly other men, wondered the opposite: how had Hatake gotten himself such a pretty, young thing? The lucky bastard.

And yes, yes he was, but Sakura would have to object to the idea that he was the only one who had lucked out.

Then again, maybe she was biased. She considered this as she stood in the doorway of her bathroom, towel-drying her hair and wearing a loose tee-shirt and panties as she watched Kakashi sleep. He was lying on his stomach, the sheets barely still covering him as they were almost no match for the lazy way he was sprawled out. It was mid-morning and the slivers of sun that crept in from between the blinds fell as stripes across his bared back, illuminating planes of hard muscle and ridges of bone. He had been away for almost a month on a two-man mission with Naruto and had climbed into her bed some time the night before with the excuse that his apartment was too far away. She was pretty sure he just wanted her to make him breakfast the next morning.

Not that she minded. The sight of him hogging her bed, content and happy and at peace, was enough to convince her to do that much for him.

Sakura smiled to herself and took a moment more to admire the very pretty picture he made before tossing her towel to the floor and crossing the room to climb up onto the bed and crawl over to him until she could plant a hand on either side of his waist. "Ka-ka-shi," she sing-songed to him before leaning down and kissing the skin just behind his right ear. "It's almost ten."

He muttered something unintelligible into the pillow and attempted to bury his head even farther into it.

She laughed as she let her weight come to rest on the bed and then leaned over him, lowering herself from her hands to her elbows so her chest pressed into him. Then she laid a kiss against the back of his head, in his hair, and then another to his neck where she nuzzled the shorter hairs there at his nape. He shifted a little at this and she smiled at the way the muscles of his shoulders flexed with the movement as his skin broke out into a rash of goose bumps and turned just the faintest shade of red.

"I'm glad you're back," she said.

He mumbled something that was muffled by the pillow but rumbled in chest and she felt it as a pleasant hum against her sternum. She smiled at this and gently began to trace the scars that criss-crossed over his skin. Many of them were old and had faded with time, but the tissue was ever-so-slightly raised in some spots and the skin was paler than normal, drained of color because of the damaged vessels. One across his lower back was peculiar in its depth, like a piece had been carved out of him and the back of one shoulder was rough and its color was patchy from a long-healed friction burn.

As a medic she understood the physical consequences, as a ninja she saw them as the literal pound of flesh every one of them gave for their village, and as a woman she knew that he bore many more just like them on his heart. She ran a hand up his side from his hip and over his ribs, counting each one to herself and traced a long scar that ran vertically over his side. He'd never accept it, but he was a beautiful man and she, she thought with a private smile, was a lucky, lucky girl

"You said you were going to see your mother," Kakashi spoke suddenly, his head turned just a little so that his words were audible and clear. "How did that work out?"

Sakura hummed to herself. "It was fine. My grandparents were there too. They wanted to talk about you."

He shifted onto his side so that he faced her and Sakura smiled at the stubble that peppered his jaw and cheeks. "How did that go?" he asked as he draped an arm over her lower back, his hand impossibly warm against her skin.

"They weren't exactly thrilled," she said, her torso still propped on her elbows as she rested her chin on one, upturned hand. "I think they've been holding out hope that I'd end up with a civilian and that he'd somehow convert me. That was just Grandma, though. Mostly."

"What about your mother?"

Sakura smiled. "She was actually fine with it and told Grandma to butt-out. It was kind of awesome." She lifted her hair to comb her fingers through his hair and smiled at the way his eyelids happily flagged when she dragged her fingernails gently over his scalp. The smile turned into outright laughter when he dragged her across the tiny gap between them and buried his face against her chest and folded his long arms around her. She slipped one arm under his neck to cradle his head against her as she let the other smooth down his neck and over his shoulder. "I take it you're not going to get up any time soon."

"Mmm, nope. Glad the parent thing went well, by the way."

The medic hummed in agreement and settled into her pillows, content with the warmth of his arms wrapped around her. "It wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't," she said with a shrug.

He looked up at her and she felt his fingertips skim over the dimples at the base of her spine, where they lingered, dipping in and out of those valleys. What was it with him and those things? She'd have to ask someday. "No?"

"No," she replied and she leaned down to kiss his top lip. "Objections?"

Kakashi made an impossibly masculine, shiver-inducing sound low in the back of his throat and Sakura soaked it up. "None at all," he said and his voice had dropped huskily. His fingertips dragged over the same place on her back and Sakura arched into him. "Mm, do you have a shift today?"

"No, but I promised Naruto we'd all go to lunch together when you guys got back and then I have to meet Tsunade this afternoon," she replied. "So, we have a little time."

He hummed at this and settled against her a little more heavily. "Good, wake me up then."

Sakura laughed aloud at this, but knowing that it would be pointless to try to pry him off and that she didn't really want to anyway, she made herself comfortable and settled in to doze with him for a little while. "I'm really happy you're home," she said again, simply because she knew he couldn't hear it enough.

Kakashi let out a long, contented sigh and squeezed her gently. "It's good to be home."

* * *

One day's gossip was the next day's old news and it wasn't very long before it was simply a fact that Hatake Kakashi and Haruno Sakura were an item. There was just nothing more to say about it. There were honestly other, juicier things to discuss than the most boring and least gossip-worthy "forbidden" romance to ever plague one of the Five Villages.

However, seasons passed and in time people did eventually begin to wonder about the inevitable. Would they marry? It had long been assumed that the Hatake line would die with Sakumo's sole heir and while the clan had never been large by any means it was a name long associated with Konoha and for it to come to an end would have been a loss for the village. But, no one brought this up to the happy couple in question. Their friends knew better than to speculate too much about the future—their lives being what they were—and any temptation the Elders might have felt to meddle was immediately quashed by the stink eye Tsunade had given them upon broaching the topic.

"I don't know why we bother. This always happens."

Kakashi smiled across the table at Sakura. They had been arm-wrestling and were currently tied, possibly because they were both too stubborn to give in and _probably_ because they wanted to put off doing the dishes a little longer. Sai and Naruto had left together after breakfast, the two of them off to meet some of the other Rookies for a training session.

"We end up deadlocked like this and then it comes down to trying to throw the other one off guard," she said. "I think this is where I usually win."

"Yes, you do," he replied. "Although, I wouldn't exactly consider playing footsie with my lap an honorable method of winning."

"_Ninja_," Sakura answered with what could only be described as an extremely self-satisfied smile.

Kakashi chuckled back and held her stare as they each took turns testing the other's arm-strength only to be met with an equal amount of resistance. She was beautiful like this, her eyes bright with challenge and her skin and hair positively glowing in the golden light of the morning that poured into her little kitchen. It was kind of breathtaking.

They had been more or less living together for a few months. In as much as it was possible to do so while still having separate places. Their clothes were pretty equally divided between the two residences and rare was the night that they didn't share a bed together. It was a strange arrangement, but it worked just fine for them and neither had any particular desire to change it.

At least, they hadn't.

Maybe it was his age, but Kakashi was more acutely aware of time than Sakura seemed to be. She cared very little for big anniversary celebrations, but he knew, to the day, how long they had been together and he kept count of the days when they were separated by missions. It weighed on him sometimes to think that what time they had together might someday be cut short and he wasn't willing to let any of it pass him by.

"Sakura?"

She smiled at him in a way that made him want to kiss her. "Hm?"

"Marry me."

Her eyes widened and her grip faltered so he reflexively slammed her arm back into the table.

Immediately, Sakura started to laugh; loud, incredulous laughter as she stared at him with a mix of shock and outrage. "You dirty cheater! That was a low trick!"

He smiled back at her. "_Ninja_," he replied before adding, a little quieter: "And I was serious."

The medic inhaled sharply at this and her eyes widened again. "Serious?" she repeated

Kakashi nodded. "Marry me," he said again, just as evenly as before.

It wasn't a question, but it wasn't a demand either. It was an offer she was free to accept or reject at her leisure, because he understood that this wasn't the same for her as it was for him. She was young and she didn't feel the weight of time quite like he did. Maybe she didn't need the same sense of permanency that he wanted.

Sakura was still staring at him, clearly still thrown.

He shrugged uncomfortably and then plunged forward, not sure why he couldn't stop himself. "We don't have to make a run for the altar. I just… I never thought I'd ever want any of it—a wife, a house, a family. If I have to tell you the truth, the idea's always scared me, but with you… it doesn't. Not so much, anyway." He rubbed at the back of his neck a bit sheepishly as he stared at their hands, which were still clasped at the center of the table. Her grip tightened when he tried to pull away and immediately he looked up at her.

She was utterly silent for a few seconds more and then she smiled. At first it was just the bare, tentative lift of her lips, but then she laughed and it became the wide, dazzling smile he had come to know even as her eyes grew teary. She covered face with one hand out of embarrassment even as she nodded vigorously to convey her answer.

Kakashi slid out of his seat and moved smoothly over to her, turning her chair gently to face him as he knelt in front of her. He was no sooner on the ground, though, than she slid out of her chair and wrapped herself around him. He chuckled into her hair and sat back on his heels to just hold her. "Is that a yes?" he wondered, teasing.

Sakura started to shake all over again, but this time it was with laughter, which she muffled against his shoulder before she pulled away to wipe at her damp and reddened eyes and cheeks. "Yes," she said emphatically, her voice husky with emotion. She laid the fingertips of one hand against his cheek and gave another mirthful little laugh as she nodded again. "Always yes."

* * *

There wasn't a ceremony. There wasn't anything more than a silent conversation that had begun one morning with Kakashi slipping a plain, rose gold band onto Sakura's left hand.

Neither of them wanted a fuss made. They wanted to get on with their life as a married couple with the least amount of fanfare possible. So instead of weeks of preparation that would have inevitably drawn far more attention than either of them had any desire to countenance, they accepted a mission together to Tea Country and were married by the first priest they happened upon on their way.

The certificate reached Tsunade by way of messenger hawk and the Godaime could only shake her head and knock back a dish of sake in a toast to the happy couple while Shizune, who was reading over her shoulder, dabbed at her teary eyes and gave a watery smile.

* * *

"So, this is kinda a dump!"

Naruto sounded positively cheerful as he, Sai, and Sakura stood together at the front gate of an old house several weeks later. The time-worn building stood by itself on a chunk of land the Nara clan had offered to her and Kakashi for a price that was more than generous. It was an old house that had fallen into disrepair over the years, but it was comfortably situated away from the hustle and bustle of Konoha's main streets and the property itself was beautiful even in its untamed, natural state. According to Shikamaru they'd have to deal with a few of the nosy, younger members of the herd, since the deer had considered it theirs for too long to abandon it, but that seemed like a small price to pay.

"It's not so bad," she replied thoughtfully. "I mean, we'll kind of need the room. Eventually."

"Why?" both boys asked in unison.

Sakura raised an eyebrow at them. "_Kids_," she said pointedly.

"Oh." Naruto looked thoughtful at this. "Does Kakashi want kids?"

She laughed and pulled at the front of her sundress to adjust the skirt. "Hope so," she muttered before pushing aside the gate. "C'mon, let's take a look around."

"Would we be uncles, then?" Sai wondered aloud as they approached the house's heavy, Fire Country Oak doors that hung on rusted hinges. The grass of the yard was almost knee-high and there were weeds growing up between the ancient, half-grown-over flagstones of the walkway, but there were also wildflowers here and there and two nearby plum trees were bursting with blossoms.

"Hell yeah," Naruto replied. "I like the sound of that. Hey, Sakura, if you have a boy will you name him after me?"

"No."

"Aw, c'mon!"

Sakura ignored his whining as she unlocked the doors with a key given to her by Shikamaru and pushed them open. The combined scents of stale air and dust hit her immediately upon stepping inside, but she no sooner laid her eyes on the place that she fell in love. The floorboards wobbled a little under her feet and there was the sound of fluttering wings and chirping that told her they'd have a very disappointed family of sparrows they'd need to evict, but she was swallowed up by a sense of belonging as she stepped further into the opened space and looked around.

"You're late."

Sakura smiled when a pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and she let her weight fall back onto her heels and come to rest against Kakashi's chest. He had come from one of the other rooms, moving silently even on the bowing and bouncing floorboards.

Naruto thrust a finger accusingly at the man. "How the hell did _you_ beat us here?" he demanded, half-amused and half-incredulous.

"I told him we would be here three hours ago," Sakura answered breezily.

"I still beat you here. That's something."

"Only barely, I'm sure," she scoffed back.

Kakashi smiled at her from under his mask and then cast a look around the house again. "The other rooms are nice," he said as one hand came to rest on his hip and the other remained draped around his wife as she leant into him.

"Hmm."

"There's a family of sparrows we'll need to throw out."

"I heard them."

"It's not as close to the gates as your place."

"Which I'm not crazy about."

"The privacy will be nice, though."

"Privacy? I'm sorry, I have a hundred ninja a day trampling through my house. You'll have to remind me what that is."

He chuckled and looked down at her again. "It'll need a lot of work."

Sakura nodded and took a deep breath. When she closed her eyes she could almost smell the fresh varnish and the cut grass. "Do you like it?"

Kakashi shrugged. "It's definitely not my apartment," he said. "But that's the point." He paused a moment and then began to nod. "I do—like it, I mean. It'll be nice to have a yard. The dogs will definitely appreciate it."

"You two are the weirdest married couple ever," Naruto noted with a scoff. "Two months in and you still have your own places."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Where are we supposed to store our things? Neither of our places is big enough for everything we both own. Besides, it's kind of hard to house hunt with as many missions as we've been catching lately," she said. She folded her arms then and gave the boys an appraising look. "So, what do you think?"

"Will we still get to come over?" Naruto asked.

She snorted. "Like I'd be able to stop you?"

He grinned broadly at that. "True," he chirped back. "I like it. I mean, it's gonna need a shit-ton of work done, but I'll help with repairs. Hell, I'll do anything to shake Baa-chan for a few hours a day. What about you Sai?"

"I would not trust you anywhere near carpentry tools," the artist answered blandly, earning a carefully chosen hand gesture in reply. "As for the house itself, I approve. I would also be happy to assist with the needed repairs."

Sakura smiled happily at them. "We appreciate that."

They both waved this off and eventually they wandered outside to investigate the wilderness of the backyard, their voices carrying into the house as they bickered along the way.

Sakura, who had stepped away from her husband to inspect an intricately carved support beam at the center of the main room, turned at length to look at him. "Can we really afford this place?" she asked. "I know that Shikaku-senpai isn't asking us for nearly as much as he should, but it's still so much and it's right in the village. I paid through the nose for my place and it's barely on a whole acre of land. This plot is how big? Almost fifteen acres? And this is house is easily twice the size."

Kakashi shrugged. "We're fine," he said dismissively. "I've been over our finances and we can actually buy it outright."

She blinked at him. "Where did we get that kind of money?"

"From me, mostly," he replied. He smiled at her incredulously raised eyebrows. "I have worked for nearly thirty years and I live in a one bedroom apartment with furniture older than you are. What exactly do you think I spend my money on?"

"Well, you've certainly saved a lot by skipping out on the bill at dinner over the years."

He snorted at this and reached out to take her hand and pull her up against him. His hands settled comfortably on either side of her thin waist and he took a moment to relish the feeling of the soft cotton of her dress against his palms. "I suppose it's some kind of consolation to know you love me and not my money," he said wryly.

Sakura grinned up at him. "Your money doesn't have anything to do with anything. We both know that I love you for your body. Your voice is nice too."

Kakashi pinched her backside in reprimand and she responded with a gentle slap to the back of his shoulder, but neither of them tried to pull away from the other. Instead, they were now neatly pressed together, her arms draped around his waist. He looked up at the ceiling and then his eyes moved down the walls and the doors before they finally landed on the floors, taking in the scratched and faded oak. He bounced lightly on the balls of his feet and the floorboards squawked in protest under him. "Yeah, this is going to be a lot of work," he said again.

She smiled and found herself—not for the first time—overwhelmed by a heady mixture of giddy happiness and tender affection. That had been happening with a troubling frequency as of late, but while Ino told her that she was still under the spell of being a newlywed, Sakura suspected that it would always be the case when Kakashi was so near. She reflexively tightened her grip on his waist, which drew his attention down to her. "So were you," she told him.

"Was I now?" Kakashi feigned hurt for a moment, but the façade fell in an instant. Instead, he lifted a hand to tuck some loose strands of her hair behind one of her ears and tipped his head to one side. "And what's the verdict?" he wondered. "Was it worth it?"

Sakura smiled even wider and curled her fingers into the fabric of his shirt so she could hold him that much closer to her. "I have nothing to regret."

He chuckled and the sound reverberated through his chest and into hers and to the very tips of her toes. She closed her eyes and tried to just soak him in as one of his hands threaded through her hair to hold the back of her head. Then the bow of his mouth, covered by the scratch of his mask, pressed to her forehead.

Sakura pressed her face into the fabric of his shirt and let out a long breath when Kakashi folded his long arms around her. She could hear Naruto and Sai still bickering somewhere of and away from the house and she couldn't help but smile to herself. Change had never much agreed with her in the past, but after changing her mind, a change of heart, and finally changing her name she didn't think she minded it so much. She had someone to lay roots down with and hang onto through the worst of anything.

Worth it, she thought to herself. Nothing had ever been so worth it.

* * *

**Here it is. After the long, long wait the final chapter. As most of you know I've been under a lot of stress lately, but I apologize anyway for making you all wait so long. Honestly, I've been sitting on this for a few days and fussing over it like a mother hen. However, I did eventually come to the conclusion that no version would ever feel good enough, this being the final chapter of what has been a labor of love.**

**I could complain about how unhappy I am with how this chapter turned out, as per tradition, but I'm not going to bog you down with that. Instead, I find myself just reflecting on this story and the response to it-yours and mine. Romance-looking at how two people fall in love-is a genre that gets a copious amount of shit because it gets mistaken for simply being about sex and this story did start as me wanting to post something that showed it didn't HAVE to be that way. Rather, it really shouldn't. **

**In literature, the sex is the least interesting part of any romance-for the most part it's as sexy as reading an IKEA instruction manual. Romance as a genre gives you an opportunity to really explore the characters as people and lets you dive into their minds. I hope this story helps me make that argument a little by showing it in practice, because writing is art and art should make you FEEL something and I don't consider porn art. Watching porn might arouse you, which is indeed a feeling, but it isn't an emotion. After all, watching someone vomit might make you want to vomit, but that isn't what I'd call art. Of ALL genres, romance should be held to this standard. That's why, despite the fact that I think Twilight is a massive pile of shit that fell out of a sewage truck driving away from an asylum for the mentally ill, I try not to rag on the fans too much because it made them FEEL something and I can't dictate what should or shouldn't make someone feel something. Persuasion made the withered, prune-like remains of my heart weep rivers, but some people consider it Jane Austen's worst book. To each their own.**

**I'm babbling now, so let's get to the REAL point of this note: thank you. To everyone who had read this, to everyone who has followed it and put it in their favorites, to every one who took the time to leave a review: thank you a thousand times. I've met awesome people and made many friends because of this story. It's been an incredible experience and one hell of a ride that I'm glad you took with me. If I made you feel something for even a moment along the way then I consider it a success. I can't ask for more than that as a writer.**

* * *

**Fin.**


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